How long have you been making music for?
Since around 1990, or thereabouts.
What is your favorite instrument to play on?
I learned to play bass when I was in my late teens, which was enjoyable in a rudimentary, cathartic kind of way, but my favourite role in a band is vocals.
What acts have you played with before if any?
None of any consequence; just a couple of non-serious "garage" bands in the late 80s and early 90s. I came up with the idea for Bal-Sagoth back around 1989 and it was finally formed in 1993, and that remains my only real band.
If you had to lay out all the bands in order you played in as a timeline what would they be?
Bal-Sagoth: 1993 to the present day.
What is the coolest experience you have had as a musician?
The writing and recording of our six albums remains the coolest experience. Guiding a particular project from the early conceptual stage to the final, finished product is always artistically fulfilling. It's never a simple procedure, but it's always memorable and rewarding... the culmination of concepts and ideas, refined, honed and ultimately focused into a disc of pure audial sorcery that people will enjoy for many, many years to come.
What inspires you to keep doing what you do?
Well, the band is currently on hiatus, and has been for quite a few years now. Bal-Sagoth remains in suspended animation, frozen in an icy, eldritch tomb for the moment. But although a return is not planned for the foreseeable future, I do have all the lyrics, stories and artwork ready for albums 7, 8 and 9. Right now I'm concentrating on writing books. I write pulp sword & story stories featuring the characters from my Bal-Sagoth lyrics. Most notably, three volumes of my series "The Chronicles of Caylen-Tor" have been published by DMR Books (www.dmrbooks.com), so if anyone is into sword & sorcery tales in the vein of classic Conan, Elric, etc., check those out. The other band members are also busy; the guitarist and keyboard player currently have a new project, creating music in a similar style. As for Bal-Sagoth itself, we might well return one day, if the stars align. Upon reflection, the primary downside to this industry is the incredibly high number of narcissists, charlatans, opportunists, underminers and sociopaths that you meet along the way. Such perfidious types have dogged our every step since the very beginning, and still cling relentlessly to the band today like insidious parasites... akin to bloated, blood-gorged ticks that should have been dug out and crushed years ago.
If you had to name some influences what would they be?
Initially, my primary musical inspirations were bands such as Bathory, Celtic Frost, Sabbat (UK), Morbid Angel, etc. As well as those bands, I was very much into all of the death metal bands of the early 90s and the subsequent wave of black metal bands which rose to prominence shortly thereafter. Major influences on my lyrical concepts are legendary authors such as Robert E. Howard, H.P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, Edgar Rice Burroughs, etc. My earliest intention when I devised the concept for Bal-Sagoth was to create a project which featured stylistic elements of those aforementioned classic bands as well as others in a similar vein, playing a kind of dark, extreme metal built upon a lyrical foundation of fantasy, mythology, and the occult. It wasn't easy to get the project up and running. In fact, early members actively fought against the concept, while others had absolutely no familiarity whatsoever with black metal, which made it difficult to finally get things started properly. The truth of the matter is that many people in the early days openly derided the idea of Bal-Sagoth, only to swiftly change their tune and claim they'd always supported it as soon as we began to meet with a modicum of success. Such situations are always a remarkably good gauge of a person's character, or lack thereof. Anyway, it took a while, but we finally released our debut album in 1995 and duly silenced the mewling naysayers.
What is your favorite venue you been to or played in?
Most of the venues we've played over the years are pretty much too similar to really stand out and be memorable in any truly significant way. We've played a lot of clubs, halls and other venues since the release of our first album back in 1995. The actual bands we've played with tend to be more memorable. We've played shows and toured with bands including Emperor, Dark Funeral, Marduk, Mortician, Amon Amarth, Vader, etc. Most of our shows and tours occurred in Europe, including multi-band bills and festivals such as No Mercy, Screamfest, WOA, Brutal Assault, Bloodstock, etc., plus one festival in the USA, Heathen Crusade II.
To sum up this interview which website can we find your latest music and any shout outs to anyone for the readers of Asphyxium zine?
Check out www.bal-sagoth.net and www.byron-a-roberts.co.uk for information on Bal-Sagoth, plus a variety of band features and archival material. We're also on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter/X, Instagram, Reverbnation, etc. Linktree URL: www.linktr.ee/bal_sagoth.
Our discography is as follows:
A Black Moon Broods Over Lemuria (Cacophonous Records)
Starfire Burning Upon the Ice-Veiled Throne of Ultima Thule (Cacophonous Records)
Battle Magic (Cacophonous Records)
The Power Cosmic (Dissonance Productions)
Atlantis Ascendant (Dissonance Productions)
The Chthonic Chronicles (Dissonance Productions)
Apocryphal Tales - 1993 Demo (Godreah/Exhumation Records)
Thank you, cheers!
Cheers! Greetings to all the Bal-Sagoth fans reading this! All hail!
-Daniel Ryan
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