The End for Bal-Sagoth?

Originally written for Soundshock.com

Recently, black metal in the UK has truly developed a consistent scene with bands like Fen, A Forest of Stars and Wodensthrone acting as the vanguards of a new movement. However, before these bands, one of the most uttered names both at home and internationally in the UKBM scene was Bal-Sagoth. In the past few years, the fantasists have kept a low profile but why? Mainman Byron Roberts explains why he considers the band to be in semi-retirement.

  

In 2006, Bal-Sagoth released their last studio effort, entitled ‘The Chthonic Chronicles’ on one of the biggest metal labels Nuclear Blast. The album was very well-received by the metal community and an international showcase of UK black metal.  “We haven't been writing any new material, because we have yet to decide whether to carry on for further albums. I think eventually you will see the other members of the band branching out into various other projects, as realistically Bal-Sagoth won't last forever. I suppose you could say that Bal-Sagoth is in a state of semi-retirement, which wouldn't actually be too far from the truth! So essentially, the band has just been playing a handful of shows per year since our last album "The Chthonic Chronicles" came out in 2006,” Roberts notes. “Over the last five years, we've played in countries such as Finland, Norway, the USA, Portugal, the Czech Republic, etc. It hasn't been a deliberate decision to avoid playing the UK, it's just that no suitable offers had really come in until recently.” 

Given the bombastic and grand sound Bal-Sagoth exude on record, it can be incredibly difficult to replicate the music live. Opinions on Bal-Sagoth shows vary widely, dependent on the quality of the sound and the knowledge of the sound engineers at the time. “It's impossible to accurately recreate the multi-layered sound of the albums in the live environment. We just have to settle for getting it as close as is humanly possible within the overall confines of the live show. That's partially why I've never been satisfied with our gigs over the years. I personally don't think there's any need to play this stuff live. Every time we play a show it perhaps erodes a little bit of the magic this band has. I would hope that the energy of the live experience might go some way to make up for it, but there's only so much you can do. Quite honestly, our material is not designed or written to be performed accurately live. Bal-Sagoth has always been more about the album experience; sitting back with the stereo on, booklet in hand, with the listener getting lost within the sonic universe of our discography.”

Unlike many metal acts, Roberts admits that Bal-Sagoth’s strength is not in the live show. The prominence of the lyrics in the band substitute for this though; each album is a conceptual piece, concerning itself with fantasy and sci-fi worlds conceived by Roberts himself. “The whole concept for the band was essentially built around the lyrical content. I had many of the lyrics written and the albums planned our years before I even met the people who would eventually end up being in the band. I came up with the band concept around 1989, but back then, seemingly no one was interested in being part of a high concept metal band with fantasy and sci-fi lyrics. That was the height of the whole socio-political thrash and death metal band surge, and it just wasn't "cool" to want to start a band dealing with mythological and fantasy topics. It was a real problem finding people willing to give the idea a chance. Eventually a guy I knew called Mac introduced me to some people he had been jamming covers within their bedroom. They were looking to start a serious band too, and to cut a long story short, Jonny and Chris ultimately agreed to be part of the Bal-Sagoth project. Only then did the music start being composed.”

With such dedication to the lyrics that are written over a period of years, it seems unusual that Roberts expresses these stories through music as opposed to a medium that would allow him to limitlessly narrate, such as a novel. “The reason I wanted to tell these stories via music was because of my love of black and death metal, and fantasy & sci-fi literature. Fusing those two loves seemed like a good idea at the time. The whole idea was that the band would be an extreme and symphonic musical project which would be underpinned by this elaborate lyrical universe. Originally, it was also driven by a desire to create the kind of music and lyrics that I myself would like to hear and read as a fan, because there wasn't much of that kind of stuff around back then. Pretty much everyone opposed the idea at some point, even people in the band itself, believe it or not! But eighteen years and six albums later, here we are.” Persistence is obviously the key for Byron. He states: “The other members aren't really reading enthusiasts, to be honest, and they certainly aren't big readers of fantasy, sci-fi or mythological books. I'm sure they eventually read the album booklets once they get copies of the CDs, but they generally don't take any great interest in the lyrical side of the band, and never have. And that's fine with me, because the lyrical side is exclusively my domain anyway.”

With a power-struggle between the music and the lyrics, it is worth considering how the songs are written and which aforementioned aspect is the priority. “When we write albums, I'll give the composers an outline of the kind of stuff I need for each song. Sometimes it will be a very broad outline, merely mentioning the overall mood required for a piece. Other times, for the "flagship" songs, it will be a much more detailed outline listing the events of the story and so forth. A lot of the time Jonny just comes up with something unconnected to an outline and just submits it to me, and I then decide which lyrics are best suited to that particular composition. More often than not, the actual final lyrics are kept a secret from all the other members of the band until the mixing process is underway! So, ultimately, our way of writing songs is a mixture of collaboration and isolation, and that's the Bal-Sagoth method.” A method that is unlikely to change if Bal-Sagoth decide to continue with new material but for now, it’s all up in the air and all dedicated fanatics should catch the live shows because nothing is set in stone for these symphonic black metallers.

Why Desecration Are Important to the UK Death Metal Scene

Desecration were conceived in 1992 in Wales, a country in the UK not renowned for any significant death metal scene, unlike Scotland and obviously England. Interestingly, drummer Mic Hourihan and bassist Andi Morris have appeared in the glam rock band Tigertailz and the commercially successful Funeral For a Friend respectively. However, Desecration’s human components have been and remain involved in various extreme metal bands; Hourihan and frontman Ollie Jones are currently in Extreme Noise Terror, Hourihan played in the UK death metal band Parricide which is the only act that pre-dates Desecration in regards to the other members’ side projects, and Jones and Morris have been active in Bristol-based brutal death metallers Amputated[1], although Amputated are deficient in any creativity or innovation as far as death metal is concerned. This is Desecration’s initial point of interest. Unlike many of the bands wielding the banner of UK death metal, Desecration are not competing to be as brutal as humanly possible.

By 1991 in New York, Suffocation had released the paramount and poignant Effigy of the Forgotten, seizing popular attention and placing the band as harbingers of the brutal death metal scene. As death metal is an abrasive and probably metal’s most aggressive expression, it seems natural that most bands would battle to be as brutal as they could, internationally. Desecration have the advantage of being an older band with brutal death metal emerging as less fashionable then than it is at present. It would appear that today’s UK death metal scene attributes itself to brutal death metal rather than any sub-grouping of this rigid genre. This results in a flooding of the scene with bands sounding far too similar (in an already limiting sub genre of limiting a sub genre) and not dispensing any creativity. The problem of fans forming bands as opposed to musicians is common the world over although the UK barely coughs up any important death metal bands to compensate. Napalm Death, Extreme Noise Terror and Carcass became highly acclaimed initially due to their grindcore setting. The Rotted[2] have brutal death metal in their inventory but stylistically, they are far from archetypical brutal death metal, borrowing scrapings from grindcore. The UK’s other popular death metal band is Akercocke who splice traditional death metal with black and progressive metal. It is understood why these bands reach a larger audience than flavourless brutal death metal bands from the UK such as Bludgeon, Infected Disarray and Cerebral Bore.

Many bands, old and new, imitate Cannibal Corpse, Obituary, Morbid Angel, Deicide and the entire slew of American bands that glamorized death metal. Desecration have developed their own unorthodox style of traditional death metal[3] without combining it with any other metal sub-genres. It is evident from their music that they are an old band[4] who have survived rightfully for this duration of time.

By human nature, the band probably received potentially unwarranted attention upon the release of their debut full-length effort Gore and Perversion in 1995. This album was seized by the police with the master tapes destroyed due to the graphic artwork. Some copies released an alternate album cover which stated an apology followed by a brief line explaining that the original art had been censored. Although this album was challenging to track down, it was eventually re-recorded and released in 2002 as Gore and PerVersion 2. While the quality was updated, the songs are the same as the original pressing. What the band released is a death metal piece that runs in near towards an hour, depicting a style previously uncharted in the death metal movement. The album is musically focused and multi-dimensional, reworking structures and rejuvenating itself with each track. No two tracks are similar and the song durations are largely varied, experimenting with a range of tempos. From the opening number ‘Raping the Corpse (Desecration)’, a gripping brand of death metal is unleashed upon the listener, filled with brief melodic nuances, pounding rhythms and pronounced vocal lines.[5] ‘Raping the Copse (Desecration)’ accomplishes its goal as an opener perfectly. The guitars are meticulously structured, well suited yet not predictable in the slightest.

Another intriguing Desecration album is Inhuman. This album differs from Gore and PerVersion (2) in that the aim appears to be experimenting within the realms of death metal more so than previously as opposed to creating a selection of varied death metal themes. In short, it is a more coherent piece of music. Clocking in just short of half an hour this time, Inhuman by passes the listener rapidly although not in a Reign in Blood manner.[6] Simultaneously, it does not leave the listener craving more for it accompanies what it sets out to do succinctly. Somewhat to contrary to what was stated above, ‘Killer Row’ contains a brutal death metal elements but they are employed sparingly and, as a result, it is not a consistently brutal death metal song. Most brutal death metal bands wholly maintain their brutality throughout a release and this is many of their downfalls.[4] ‘Another Obscene Publication’ and closing number ‘A Message to the Censor’ are tongue-in-cheek tracks that stir a giggle out of the listener at Desecration’s detractors.

Lyrical themes in Desecration are not an example of death metal iconoclasm. However, perhaps they are more genuine and well-informed than the average death metal band’s lyrics of malignant torture as Jones is a practicing mortician and fails to hesitate in imbuing his lyrics with his pain-staking knowledge of human anatomy and mortality. Interestingly enough, Jones would rather not stress the obvious correlation between his occupation and his band.

Of course, Desecration are far from immaculate. ‘Frosted Breath’ offers nothing remotely ground-breaking and ‘As the Heart Stops Beating’, while it has its moments, is largely forgettable. Death metal is a significantly limiting genre compared to metal’s other sub-classes. To maintain interest, a band has to notably keep evolving their sound. Cannibal Corpse’s Kill is completely different to the band’s debut full-length effort Eaten Back To Life. In fact, Kill differs substantially to its immediate predecessor The Wretched Spawn in that it features semblance of metalcore embellishments, executed convincingly and worked into the music appropriately, making this classic band refreshing. Compare Obituary’s work throughout their career and the change is minimal, which leaves them overshadowed in the modern extreme metal world.[8] Desecration’s most pressing concern is how to reinvent themselves or retain a refreshing edge to their music and retain their position of staying ahead of the modern UK death metal scene.[9]

In an empire saturated with bland brutal death metal, Desecration are remaining true to the original death metal sound and are one of the only outstanding UK death metal acts to still be doing so and are suffering from an absence of recognition. Their lack of erosion in class or style is a monument of death metal quality in the UK’s subterranean and, in terms of traditional death metal, the death metal scene overall irrespective of popularity. Future endeavours may see the band morphing style as they have practically exhausted all areas of their genre.

[From left to right: Ollie Jones, Mic Hourihan and Andi Morris]

Bibliography:

www.metal-archives.com

‘Reign in Blood’ by D.X. Ferris, 2008

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[1] Amputated formed in 2002, much later than Desecration.

[2] Formerly Gorerotted.

[3] Also dubbed ‘old school death metal’ more colloquially.

[4] Compare with new act Hail of Bullets from Holland who have released one album this year of traditional death metal, offering no single enhancement or innovative feature.

[5] Far too many death metal bands treat vocals as a mere after thought. Whilst Desecration may not have planned their vocal lines excessively, they certainly underscore relevant sections of the music and frequently accompany the guitars or drums appropriately. Desecration’s vocal delivery is far more effectively utilized than a more talented death metal band such as Cryptopsy.

[6] Reign in Blood’s engineer has admitted that the album was the intended to have the listener feel as though they were being repeatedly punched in the face, with positive results. Whilst it is easy for a death metal band to undertake such a challenge, such as Cannibal Corpse’s classic Butchered At Birth which is less successful than Slayer although meets a good quality standard, Desecration resisted this interestingly enough, in spite of being a traditional death metal band like Cannibal Corpse.

[7] Krisiun’s Southern Storm and Anal Bleeding’s Two Cocks in the Same Hole come to mind.

[8] Although Obituary are not enhancing their sound significantly, their broody death metal is very irregular and an interesting interpretation of death doom metal.

[9] It seems only fair to mention Rugby’s Mithras as another brilliant UK death metal act, pioneering atmospheric death metal with musically brutal sentiments. Formed in 1998, they are more youthful than Desecration.