I vaguely remember Ba’al‘s Ellipsism floating by on the now-defunct Clobber Records in 2020. But – sadly – the time wasn’t right for their enigmatic wares four years back and we gave the record a pass. And, perhaps, we shouldn’t have done that. But then, hindsight is always 20/20, right?
So, the other day, the RMR Deck Crew got ahold of the band’s new EP Soft Eyes. Especially Ba’al‘s insistence on Blackened Post Metal and visions of those funky wares on offer these days got our curiosity going.
Well, Ba’al‘s style is still as enigmatic as it gets – no contest. Soft Eyes delivers a whirlwind of Post Black and reasonably atmospheric Black Metal with a fair number of Post Metal passages. And all this is served with a tasty mélange of prog and a ton of gothically tainted melancholy for added spice. You even get the tear-drenched strings at certain points of the short blurb (Yearn to Burn Bright). Ambient melodics and clears meet stark desperation à la My Dying Bride with a lot of down-powered Agrypnie mixed into the fray for good measure.
The powerful, ever-changing riffs and solos, together with the rasps, snarls, growls, and anguished shouts, take the brunt of the relentless attack. Just to disintegrate into some anemic clears that reach yer turntable in a weird mix of Aaron Stainthorpe (My Dying Bride)1 and Morton Harket (A-ha). In other words, Ba’al deliver a somewhat cluttered mix, stuffed to the gills with all sorts of ideas, flavors, undercurrents, and miscellaneous samples thrown into a pot and mixed well.
Ultimately, Soft Eyes delivers a murky and doom-laden jambalaya of moods and sub-genres that seem to defy logic but – strangely – make sense all the same. An earthy blend of different tastes and flavors ranging from atmospheric and ambient, to harsh and sludgy, in-yer-face Black Metal. A brand of BM that – oddly – keeps their tremolos in (very) short supply.
But strangely, all of that abject complexity never gripes. Instead, you get an expertly arranged piece gorging with next-level songwriting. A short, yet intense piece full of ever-changing and darkly flickering motifs that bounced off our walls for too long.
Recommended.
Ed’s note: There’s a new record out. Ba’al on a roll.
Label: Ripcord Records | Web: Official Band Site
Release Date: 3 May 2024
- You know, the guy hiding out in the chocolate milk swamp during videos. -Ed.-↩