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Rating: In the mid-'90s, besides Cradle Of Filth, I got to know two other bands from Albion with a similar style, or at least related to a certain type of symphonic black metal. Hecate Enthroned, very close to vampiric themes and guitar arrangements akin to C.o.F., and Bal-Sagoth. I would add the glorious BAL-SAGOTH. Because more than any other, they have managed to combine black/thrash blows with a truly unique epic/aesthetic.
The album in question, though all of them should be mentioned, is "Battle Magic", their third full-length. Released by Cacophonous (the first label of the already mentioned and overrated Cradle of Filth) in 1998, with the intro "Battle Magic" one gets the feeling of being plunged into a fairy-tale world, on the borders between the fantasy music of a potential Lord of the Rings and a sincere and "happy" epic of certain early Iron Maiden. "Naked Steel (the warrior's saga)" starts the metallic dance. Grand synth keyboards operate alongside heavy guitars painting a surreal and original world. The voice of "Lord" Byron Roberts, at times narrating, overflows with visions, warnings, and theatrical passion for a world made of lost honor, dragons, great swords, and armor. It becomes screaming, growling, and captivating due to its grandeur. But the true strength of the Bal-Sagoth project lies in the melodies. Jonny Maudling is the keyboardist. An extraordinary weaver of notes that have the power to lift the listener beyond the sky, beyond the clouds, among dreams... and make them sit among the immortal GODS. Never has epic/fantasy music had, at least according to me, such evocative power. The album is a continuous throwback to the past, even MEDITERRANEAN, with sudden changes in time, vocal registers, progressive incursions, jazz, and more. It's incredible the variety and vastness of musical fluid they manage to pour from their instruments in every album.
Another curious and interesting feature, for those particularly proficient in English, are the lyrics and the length of the song titles. Listen to "The Dark Liege Of Chaos Is Unleashed At The Ensorcelled Shrine Of A'zura-Kai (The Splendour Of A Thousand Swords Gleaming Beneath The Blazon Of The Hyperborean Empire Part: II)" to understand. It is an absolute journey with a band that has made expressive originality, and there are few and rare like Enslaved for example, one of its strengths. And now to the painful notes. Precisely because they are extremely distant from the circle of musical identification, because in the end Bal-Sagoth are a bit of everything (epic, black, thrash, fantasy, prog,) and nothing, the band has not received the honors they deserve.
The last splendid album "The Chthonic Chronicles" dates back to 2006. Surely the dire record situation/pirate download will cause (or slow the genesis of) new productions which, in my opinion, empty the metal scene of an excellent musical resource. We should take much more care of musical diversities like these, which are nothing but generators in a musically sterile scene from every point of view. Glory, glory, glory, God Save the Bal-Sagoth!
Tracklist and Lyrics
01 Battle Magic (02:45)
Sorcerers and shamans, weave your spells of war,
Ensure our mighty sword-arms are the strongest and the quickest.
Entwine us with great battle magic 'til we stand knee-deep in gore,
And by all the gods, we'll ride to where the fray rages the thickest!
''The war-song of the Wolves of Caylen-Tor,
as heard at the Battle of Blackhelm Vale.''
03 A Tale From the Deep Woods (05:36)
The ravens are on the wing!
My scramasax is red (stained with the blood of many Mercian warriors),
The ravens are on the wing,
By Offa's decree I am an outlaw,
Branded wolfshead by my own king.
(The orm-garth awaits me, darkly astir with ophidian malice...)
The ravens are on the wing!
Ash for our spear-hafts,
Yew for our bow-staves,
Oak for our deck planks,
Oak and elder our shields.
Hail, o' great liege of the ancient woods, ruler of the deepest forest... you, who were reigning o'er your time-veiled kingdom centuries before the arrogant men who proclaim themselves kings of this island ever supped of life's bitter-sweet draught...
I give you my hail,
I give you my blood,
I give you my life,
O' sylvan liege.
My life bleeds forth unto the earth (from many deep and dire wounds),
To slake your roots, great old king... (as I rest my battle-ravaged body against thee.)
The ravens are on the wing!
Ten leagues ride on lathered steed,
Gold in hand to a sword-for-hire,
A blood-eagle carved by Saxon steel,
And two score slain earns royal ire.
Gwynedd lies two days westwards,
Still further south, the weregeld calls.
Mayhap with All-Father Woden's favour,
My deeds may yet inspire the skalds.
Litha's moon gleams high o'er the tallest oak,
Ancient king in this sylvan court of elm, ash and yew,
The wood-spirits watch from gnarled bough and bole,
As I pull two Mercian shafts from my bloodied thews.
The ravens are on the wing!
I give you my hail,
I give you my blood,
I give you my life,
O' sylvan liege.
Beneath the oak, I rest, bone weary,
Thirsting for a horn of ale or jug of mead,
And yet how could a heathen man wish for any more,
Than the healing balms of English trees?
The ravens are on the wing!
05 Crystal Shards (02:17)
I stand engulfed by the moon-magic of a winter eve's dream,
Enraptured by bloodlust, and nine fire-gems ablaze,
I am beckoned by sylph-spells and the jewelled sword a'gleam,
As the great war-fleet of Ys sails the crystalline waves.
06 The Dark Liege of Chaos Is Unleashed at the Ensorcelled Shrine of A'zura-Kai (The Splendour of a Thousand Swords Gleaming Beneath the Blazon of the Hyperborean Empire, Part II) (04:14)
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