Hump Day Hot Ticket: Meka Nism “Mouth of God”

Band logo

Over the last few weeks, my musical travels have mostly taken me across Europe, so now I am flying a little closer to home once again with a band from the good ol' U.S. of A. Describing themselves as “epic shaman rock”, Orlando, Florida's Meka Nism combines the sounds of nu-metal, progressive rock, with a touch of symphonic flair and art rock showmanship. Fronted by “vocal artist and shaman” Ms. Meka takes the shaman moniker very seriously: her onstage look resembles a tribal shaman, with makeup on her face in harsh, bold lines; her outfit resembling something out of a Mad Max movie, and holding a shamanic wand in one hand, and a microphone in the other. It's a very cool look that complements the powerful musical sound quite well.

Musically, the song “Mouth of God” is about the Kamikuchi—Japanese shaman women through whom the spirits spoke—in other words, acting as a “mouth of God”. From the tribal chanting at the beginning of the song, you get the message very quickly. The video shows the band in a live setting, but you can also see the sort of power that Ms. Meka holds as a frontwoman and how she is able to captivate the audience, which probably makes this quite the fitting song to introduce new listeners to the band, what they're all about, and what you can expect to see from them at a live show. I like their sound a lot; it's quite different from some of the other stuff I have heard on the American femme-metal scene over the last few years. I can't exactly categorize them as one of those bands looking to take the scene back to more traditional heavy metal sounds, and they certainly do not classify as one of the bands looking to expand the symphonic metal scene into American territory. They do have somewhat of a nu-metal or alternative sound, but I feel those labels are so run-of-the-mill and not even close to describing their sound. I guess you will just have to watch the video and decide for yourself. Besides, good music is good music—does it really matter whether you can slap a label on it or not?

For more information on Meka Nism, visit their official website.

Special thanks to Jennifer K. Barry.