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BAL-SAGOTH  The Power Cosmic  CD   (Metal Mind)   15.99
The Power Cosmic IS CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE FOR ORDER

I've only now become a fan of Bal-Sagoth after digging into the new re-issues of their last three albums came out on Metal Mind. I never paid much attention to these UK metallers in the past as I've never been a big fan of what you'd call "symphonic metal", but when Metal Mind dropped these gorgeous-looking re-issues, I went ahead and checked them out and ended up falling under the bombastic thrall of Bal Sagoth almost immediately. Presented in newly designed glossy digipacks in a machine-numbered edition of two thousand copies each, these albums look amazing, their bright full-color album art looking like something off some bizarre Japanese video game...

Here's where my addiction to Bal-Sagoth recently took root, the reissue of the fourth album from the British blackened battle metallers (and first for Nuclear Blast), The Power Cosmic. Released in 1999, the eight song saga of The Power Cosmic heads off into the outer cosmos while still keeping it's bombastic sound based in a wild combination of keyboard/tympani-heavy soundtrack power (a la Basil Poledouris's score for 1982's Conan The Barbarian) and blazing symphonic black metal that has some stylistic similarities to fellow Brits Cradle Of Filth. Bal-Sagoth's music and presentation are as weird as ever, based this time around another sprawling science fantasy narrative written by founding member Byron Roberts that deals with rogue cosmos-tripping demigods and ancient extra-terrestrial civilizations, continuing to explore the vast mythos of his "Multiverse". It's all laid out in the expansive twenty page booklet/libretto that comes with the disc, which also features more amazing album art from Games Workshop illutstaor Martin Hanford). The band's complex, prog-influenced assault of speedy and ornate black metal is wed to a battalion of synthesizers that take front and center position, with Roberts continuing to deliver his vocals in an idiosyncratic mix of vicious blackened shrieks, dramatic spoken word narration, and hushed menacing whispers, an offbeat delivery that has always been a big part of Bal-Sagoth's sound. Also key are those swirling cosmic keyboards, which dominate almost the entire record, joining the sounds of lush strings and blaring horns while the guitarists slash through the songs with razor-sharp riffing soaring guitar leads. Some of the highlights include the absurdly catchy "Callisto Rising" and the ripping sci-fi majesty of "The Thirteen Cryptical Prophecies Of Mu", but the whole album is a blast, evoking the bombastic soundtracks of the most over-the-top 80's sci-fi action films through majestic metallic power and a classic pulp adventure vibe. I've sure never heard anybody quite like these guys. Like the other new Bal-Sagoth reissues on Metal Mind, this comes in an eye-popping new full color digipack design and was released in a limited machine numbered edition of 2000 copies.


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