Bal-Sagoth - Rehearsal January 1994
1) Intro
2) Battle for the Topaz Throne
3) Dreaming of Atlantean Spires
4) The Fall of the Gleaming Citadels (Before the Dark Fury of the Elder Gods)
5) Enthroned in the Halls of the Serpent Kings
6) By the Blaze of the Fire Jewels
7) Thus Spake the Silent Halls of Valasia
Mega / RGhost
Today's post completes the gradual shift back to metal and is another thing discovered from the dungeons of our lord Fenrirsson, thank you for the rip! UK's Bal-Sagoth might be a familiar name to some of you, they've churned out six albums over a ten year period, the latest already a decade ago, and a demo back in '93 which got a re-release in 2013. If you've an interest in fantasy metal I'm quite sure you've encountered them before and basically know what to expect from this rehearsal tape. It's surprisingly long, over 36 minutes, but the ambient intro track here is remarkably lengthy, especially when compared to the metal tracks that follow, at seven minutes forty-eight seconds. It's followed, naturally, by the shortest song of the lot which takes slightly less than three minutes. The rest are more in the expected running times of four plus minutes, last one nearly equaling the intro. Pretty clear but not very powerful sound allows necessary elements be observed.
I should mention I've never been much into Bal-Sagoth, my initial experience with "A Black Moon Broods over Lemuria" left me slightly dissappointed and then "Starfire..." went totally over the top with the pomp, silliness, goofy breaks, circus synths and especially the vocals which I really disliked, way too much narration and just aaaargh enough, enough, ENOUGH! Where was I? Yeah, older B-S though sounds slightly more reasonable and ugh, kinda like old Cradle Of Filth I have to say. Bet they love(d) that comparison! Considering how little patience I have for the post-debut B-Sags (though I haven't heard all the albums) this is quite listenable. But enough from me, give it a go if you're thus inclined.
Ha, you're right in saying that Bal-Sagoth got less appealing as time went on, and the narration used especially just felt irritating, perhaps more because it was about "fantasy" nonsense. The debut album still seemed pretty good back in the day, but nowadays those keys are really off putting.
VastaaPoista@F:
VastaaPoistaI actually gave one of the other albums a listen after I posted this and it seemed much better than "Starfire..." at first and I thought maybe they just slumped there really bad but it didn't last, after a few tracks it started to wear me out again and there was still way more narration than I needed. Backgrounds were better than on the second album though. I think it was the 4th one, maybe?
Velkaarn.
VastaaPoistaI have few Bal-Sagoth recordings what might interest you... I'll be back later. Now I'm really busy :)
Anyway. Thanks for that :)
@Grev:
VastaaPoistaIntriguing, keep me posted!