EP Review: Ba’al – Soft Eyes (Ripcord Records)

Nearly four years on from the release of their incredible debut album, ‘Ellipsism’, Sheffield’s blackened-post metal band, Ba’al are back with a brand-new EP. It’s called ‘Soft Eyes’ and it will be released on May 3rd, 2024, via Ripcord Records.

I’m still listening to Ellipsism now, that’s how good that album is (read our review here), so as you can imagine, I’m pretty stoked to experience new Ba’al music. I’m excited to see how they have progressed over the years, to hear what new creative ideas they have, and to immerse myself into a new pit of dark despair.

So, have they progressed? Do they have new creative ideas? Is it a bleak and suffocating experience?

Yes, yes, and bloody yes. Ba’al are back, with three gargantuan efforts that are black in tone, but genre-bend to a startling degree. They’ve always been a genre-challenging band, but this EP takes that to even greater heights. The one thing that can be easily explained is that the entire EP is a disorientating whirlwind of melancholy. Beautiful misery, that is exceptionally heavy and effectively dissonant.

Each track brings delights; some gob-smacking, some horrifying, and all unforgettable. From the start, Ornamental Doll delivers ferocity, measured and ambient-layered ferocity. Where the light of melody struggles to pierce the dark and monolithic heaviness of the track, but when it does break through, it fills the soul.

The morose ambience is even stronger in Yearn to Burn Bright. Bleak gothic-tinged melody with a low rolling drumbeat and scarring vocal growls transforms, step by step, into a cacophony of stormy noise. The structure of this track is stunning, and it offers clever riffing, howling vocals, and so much effective atmosphere. It is, yet again, another stunning example of Ba’al’s immense capabilities.

There’s one more though, and it is very special. The finale of the EP, Bamber Bridge, creating more emotion through melody than any other track here. Yet, it’s more introspective and doesn’t weigh the mind down. That side of things comes after several minutes of tears with an eruption of blackened post. Except, even though Ba’al have transformed into a different beast, the melancholy is still ever present. It is a breathtaking finale, and the exclamation point on a stunning EP.

Ba’al are back, and are better than ever.

Ba’al – Soft Eyes Track Listing:

1. Ornamental Doll
2. Yearn to Burn Bright
3. Bamber Bridge

Links

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