Bal-Sagoth "Atlantis Ascendant (Germany, Nuclear Blast, NB 584-2/27361 65842)"

Atlantis Ascendant is the fifth studio album by English metal band Bal-Sagoth. It was released in April 2001 through Nuclear Blast. This was the first Bal-Sagoth album to be recorded (albeit only partially) with digital recording technology.

The album's primary story and lyrical concept as written by vocalist-lyricist Byron Roberts centres on the exploits of a fictional nineteenth-century British archaeologist and adventurer named Professor Caleb Blackthorne III, who has dedicated his life to the field of antediluvian anthropology and to seeking out evidence as to the true nature of humanity's origin. As with many protagonists in the Lovecraftian fashion, his investigations lead to madness and death.

In November 2011, Atlantis Ascendant was reissued as a limited edition digipak by Nuclear Blast's affiliate label Metal Mind Productions. The reissue featured an expanded lyric booklet, additional artwork and remastered audio.

In July 2013, Atlantis Ascendant was released on CD in Argentina via Icarus Music under license from Nuclear Blast GmbH.

On 16 October 2020 Atlantis Ascendant was reissued as a digipak CD edition via Dissonance Productions.

In February 2021 a limited edition LP of Atlantis Ascendant featuring a lenticular 3D cover was released via the Italian specialist vinyl label Night of the Vinyl Dead.

In May 2022, Atlantis Ascendant was reissued as a single disc gatefold sleeve LP edition via the UK specialist vinyl label Back On Black.

Track listing

All lyrics are written by Byron Roberts; all music is composed by Jonny Maudling and Chris Maudling.

1. "The Epsilon Exordium" 3:37
2. "Atlantis Ascendant" 5:27
3. "Draconis Albionensis" 6:18
4. "Star-Maps of the Ancient Cosmographers" 5:12
5. "The Ghosts of Angkor Wat" 2:22
6. "Cry Havoc for Glory, and the Annihilation of the Titans of Chaos (The Splendour of a Thousand Swords Gleaming Beneath the Blazon of the Hyperborean Empire, Part III)" 7:18
7. "The Dreamer in the Catacombs of Ur" 5:16
8. "In Search of the Lost Cities of Antarctica" 5:42
9. "The Chronicle of Shadows" 5:34
10. "Six Keys to the Onyx Pyramid" 2:08

Total length: 48:53

Recording information:

Recorded November/December 2000 at Academy Music Studio, Yorkshire, England.

Mags – engineering, mixing, producer

Martin Hanford – cover art, artwork (illustrations)

Simon Lee – photography

Bal-Sagoth "The Power Cosmic (Russia, Irond Records, IROND CD 03-411)"

The Power Cosmic is the fourth album by the English metal band Bal-Sagoth, released in 1999. The album was their first recording for Nuclear Blast.

It was the first Bal-Sagoth album to not contain a full lyric booklet (earlier releases included a booklet with both lyrics and an accompanying story by vocalist/lyricist Byron Roberts). A lyric booklet was initially featured as downloadable content on the band's website; it was later released with the Russian sub-licensed edition of the album, and subsequently with the album's digipack reissue in November 2011. The album also marks a personnel change, as the trio became a quintet: Mark Greenwell joined on bass, which freed up Chris Maulding to focus on guitars, while Dave Mackintosh (later of the power metal band DragonForce) would handle drums, thus enabling Johnny Maulding to concentrate on keyboards and synthesizers.

The album focuses on Zurra, a rogue demigod released from his imprisonment beneath the Mare Imbrium who searches space to reassemble the powerful artifact known as the Empyreal Lexicon. The song "Of Carnage and a Gathering of the Wolves" takes place in Darkenhold forest, a location last referenced in track 9 of the album Starfire Burning Upon the Ice-Veiled Throne of Ultima Thule.

"The Scourge of the Fourth Celestial Host" references Marvel Comics hero The Silver Surfer battling the Fourth Celestial Host. Within the lyrics, The Silver Surfer is referred to by the name Norrin-Radd, Thor is referenced by mention of his "uru hammer", and Galactus is referred to by the name Galan of Taa. The celestials Arishem and Exitar, the watcher Uatu, and Shalla-Bal are also referenced within the song and lyrics. The album title, The Power Cosmic, is a reference to the superpowers possessed by Galactus and the Silver Surfer, and was chosen primarily because Byron Roberts is a great admirer of Marvel Comics and particularly the works of Jack Kirby, as mentioned in the 50th issue of the magazine The Jack Kirby Collector.

Track listing

All lyrics are written by Byron Roberts; all music is composed by Jonny and Chris Maudling.

1. "The Awakening of the Stars" 1.30
2. "The Voyagers Beneath the Mare Imbrium" 4.37
3. "The Empyreal Lexicon" 6.02
4. "Of Carnage and a Gathering of the Wolves" 6.00
5. "Callisto Rising" 4.32
6. "The Scourge of the Fourth Celestial Host" 6.39
7. "Behold, the Armies of War Descend Screaming from the Heavens!" 5.54
8. "The Thirteen Cryptical Prophecies of Mu" 5.12

Total length: 40:30

Contrary to the Nuclear Blast release, this Russian sub-licensed edition features a full lyric booklet.

Reissues:

• November 2011: limited edition digipack released by Nuclear Blast's affiliate label Metal Mind Productions. Features an expanded lyric booklet, additional artwork, and remastered audio.
• July 2013: CD released in Argentina via Icarus Music under license from Nuclear Blast GmbH.
• October 2020: digipak CD edition released via Dissonance Productions.
• July 2021: limited edition vinyl LP released by Italian specialist vinyl label Night of the Vinyl Dead.
• May 2022: single disc gatefold sleeve LP, issues via the UK specialist vinyl label Back On Black.

Recording information:

Recorded and mixed between April 30 and May 31, 1999, at Academy Music Studio, England.

Martin Hanford – cover art

Mags – engineering, producer, mixing

J.C. Dhien – photography

Bal-Sagoth "Battle Magic (UK, Cacophonous Records, NIHIL 29CD)"

Battle Magic is the third album by Bal-Sagoth, released in 1998 on Cacophonous Records, and is their last recording for that company before they signed to Nuclear Blast.

The cover artwork for the first release of the album features the fantasy character "Caylen-Tor", created by Bal-Sagoth vocalist/lyricist Byron Roberts. The character was originally introduced in the lyrics of the band's previous album Starfire Burning Upon the Ice-Veiled Throne of Ultima Thule and would later appear in "The Chronicles of Caylen-Tor" series of novels written by Roberts and published by American Sword and sorcery publishing house DMR Books.

The song "When Rides the Scion of the Storms" marks the debut of Byron Roberts' character Captain Caleb Blackthorne, a privateer of the Elizabethan era, who would later appear in a trilogy of short stories written by Roberts and published by DMR Books in the "Swords of Steel" anthology series and subsequent omnibus edition.

The song "Thwarted by the Dark (Blade of the Vampyre Hunter) marks the debut of Byron Roberts' character Joachim Blokk, a 19th century adventurer who would later appear in a short story written by Roberts published in the Sword and sorcery anthology paperback "Devil's Armory", released by Barbwire Butterfly Books.

The band were awarded one full month to record, much of which was spent on the orchestral arrangements. The keyboards in "Blood Slakes the Sand at the Circus Maximus" alone took six full days to complete. The opening of "Blood Slakes the Sand at the Circus Maximus" is identical to the score for the film Spartacus, composed by Alex North.

On 16 September 2016, Battle Magic was reissued on CD by Cacophonous Records, featuring remastered audio, an expanded lyric booklet and new cover artwork.

Track listing

All songs composed by Byron Roberts and Jonny and Chris Maudling.

1. "Battle Magic" 2:45
2. "Naked Steel (The Warrior's Saga)" 4:44
3. "A Tale from the Deep Woods" 5:36
4. "Return to the Praesidium of Ys" 6:29
5. "Crystal Shards" 2:17
6. "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)" 4:14
7. "When Rides the Scion of the Storms" 6:16
8. "Blood Slakes the Sand at the Circus Maximus" 8:53
9. "Thwarted by the Dark (Blade of the Vampyre Hunter)" 6:18
10. "And Atlantis Falls..." 2:22

Total length: 49:54

All lyrics, sagas, stories, characters, and situations by Byron.

Recording information:

Recorded October/November/December 1997 at Academy Studios, Yorkshire, England.

Mags – producer, engineering

Jeroen van Valkenburg – artwork (inner inlay)

J.C. Dhien – photography

Simon Lee – artwork (first release)

Martin Hanford – artwork (rerelease)

Bal-Sagoth "A Black Moon Broods Over Lemuria (2016 Reissue, Remastered, UK, Cacophonous Records, NIHIL 53CD)"

A Black Moon Broods Over Lemuria, is Bal-Sagoth's 1995 debut album after their 1993 demo. The album was recorded in a two-week period in June 1994, but due to label problems the album was released almost a year later. The name Lemuria comes from a hypothetical land mass in the Indian Ocean. The keyboard intro on this album was written and performed by Keith Appleton, the proprietor of Academy Music Studio, the studio where the album was recorded.

On 13 May 2016 the album was re-released by Cacophonous Records as a special edition CD featuring remastered audio, expanded lyric booklet, new sleeve notes and exclusive new artwork.

'A Black Moon Broods Over Lemuria' remains the only one of the band's Cacophonous era albums to have been given a vinyl release, first in 1995 as a single disc LP, and then as a double vinyl gatefold edition in 2016.

In January 2018 the album was issued as a limited edition cassette version by the Malaysian label Diabolicurst Productions under license from Cacophonous Records. The edition was limited to just 100 copies.

Tracklist:

1. Hatheg Kla 02:01   
2. Dreaming of Atlantean Spires 06:15  
3. Spellcraft & Moonfire (Beyond the Citadel of Frosts) 07:11   
4. A Black Moon Broods over Lemuria 09:53
5. Enthroned in the Temple of the Serpent Kings 05:09
6. Shadows 'Neath the Black Pyramid 06:31  
7. Witch-Storm 05:08
8. The Ravening 02:53
9. Into the Silent Chambers of the Sapphirean Throne (Sagas from the Antediluvian Scrolls) 08:26   
10. Valley of Silent Paths 01:35

Time:  55:02  

Reissued with remastered sound, new artwork by Martin Hanford and new layout.

Comes with 16 page booklet. with revised text and illustrations.

Recording information:

Recorded and mixed at Academy Studios June/July 1994.

Remastered by Danny [Pentagram Chile] at HVR Studios.