Ba’al doesn’t breathe optimism.
For this second album, The Fine Line Between Heaven And Here, Joe Stamps (vocals, Hecate Enthroned), Richard Spencer (bass, Bleating Apocalypse), Nick Gosling (guitar), Chris Mole (guitar, Nephelinite, ex-Northern Oak), and Luke Rutter (drums, Bleating Apocalypse) have signed with the label Road to Masochist Records.
Mother’s Concrete Womb slowly and gently opens the doors to this new album, leading us to its majestic and impressive rhythm that strikes without warning and knocks us down for the first time while filling us with wonder. The sound calms down, then suddenly darkens when Joe joins his bandmates to deliver scathing vocals in this apocalypse of diverse influences, combining heaviness with the visceral nature of despair, but the rhythm is changeable and the flow will not hesitate to return to silence before progressing once again towards an eruption of massive violence, which will eventually free us so that Waxwork Gorgon can hypnotize us in turn. The introduction is calm once again, but feedback announces the arrival of saturation, carrying with it the vociferous cries and deafening tones that rage for a long time, then give way to Post-Rock swirls before returning to crush and terrify us until the tranquility allows us to drift towards Floral Cairn. The sound thickens without delay, still retaining dissonant airy touches to immediately immerse us and unleash its power more quickly, even welcoming a violin for a more dramatic touch, as well as lively but melancholic guitars to accompany the screams until Well of Sorrows, which allows us to catch our breath. As expected, oppression returns after a while, still as striking and irregular as ever, alternating between waves of heart-wrenching darkness and reassuring breezes until the hurricane finally reaches its breaking point and fades away in favor of The Ocean That Fills a Wound, the longest of the six compositions. The pattern is relatively similar, beginning with softness before the clear vocals appear, then giving way to a disorderly rage that hits us when we least expect it, despite the sonic clues, and only allowing us to truly catch our breath on the finale followed by Legasov, the final composition where dissonance becomes a true art of living, taking up the previous elements to throw them in our faces, and pretending to disappear only to burst into flames again twice by surprise before truly falling silent.
While the Ba’al experience is very enjoyable, it is also quite unique! The Fine Line Between Heaven And Here is one of the most divisive-sounding albums I have ever listened to, going from Olympian calm to sonic hell in no time at all!
90/100
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