Talk about keeping your cards close to your chest. I had no idea what this band were going to be like until I had actually given the CD a spin. Promotional blurb told me that they were simply a “five-piece metal act from Australia.” The photo gave no distinguishable clues by dress attire or anything; their name was odd but also told me nothing, although wiki informs Be’lakor is a daemon from the Warhammer game. There was not even one of those thanks lists in the booklet to similar bands which might have given me a clue; well I suppose this is all good marketing for a reviewer as it makes me want to know what the hell I actually have here. I was not disappointed in the slightest when I finally hit the play button either. I saw that the 8 tracks were going to take up an hour of my time and settled down to listen and more importantly by the time the first number had finished I knew I was going to stay the distance and this one would be added to my review pile.
Nice mellow guitar tones meet opener ‘Venator’ (which appears to be a destroyer from Star Wars, boy are this lot geeks), before gruff vocals and a meaty melodeath sound come into play. This is atmospheric from the off and really reminds me of another band I have just reviewed Insomnium as well as the likes of Novembers Doom and others of that ilk. It is instantly realised that although pretty much unheard of on my hemisphere Be’lakor are up there with these heavyweights and can more than walk the talk. The guitar playing is fluid and melody is rife as we flow into ‘From Scythe To Sceptre.’ If I had been put on the spot I would have taken a guess that this was a band from Finland certainly not Australia; the two countries could not be further apart climate wise and the Finns would never be seen dead drinking pish like Fosters but apart from that the similarities are musically apparent.
The other thing that should be mentioned is the complexity at play here, this has taken a fair few spins to get into properly, there is plenty going in and it is most definitely a stayer of an album and one I am going to enjoy coming back to for repeated listens. A solid heathen furrow is ploughed out over ‘Outlive The Hand,’ keyboard melodiously casts a shroud over this and the ever present growled out vocals from George Kosmas, gel all the textures together admirably. Conveying an epic and mature feeling throughout this disc I have to admit this came as one of those unexpected treasures that turns up once in a blue moon from an unheard of band. Be’lakor appear to have one album out before this ‘The Frail Tide’ self-released in 2006 and the material on this follow up is good enough to make the bigger labels over in Europe sit up and take some serious notes.
So in a nutshell if you like atmospheric doom and melodic death metal you need to go check out this depressive, sound from down under, where women glow and men plunder……sorry just couldn’t resist!
http://www.myspace.com/belakor
