The frozen Norwegian soil is hard to leave behind on Easter season, when its capital receives metalheads from all over the world for the famed Inferno gathering the holy week. For the first time in six years, our pilgrimage was way different; we ditched the flames of inferno searching for the flames on southern lands. And we came across this magnificent Sine Labe Concepta Evrope Tour 2023 tour featuring Balmog, Ultra Silvam & Gleichmacher while we were on Spain, more precisely Madrid. A new territory we have never documented before and must admit, we are quite impressed with the hospitality, good people and fun that was being on a black metal event at the spanish capital.
The event In madrid was hosted at Sala Silikona by a newcommer promotion agency, Blackmatter Prod; who previously hosted a double show for norwegians Djevel and are planning to bring back more international names to Spain. Live sound was handled by Simon Da Silva from The Empty Hall Studio, who had quite a piece of work to make all three bands shine with the acoustic conditions Silikona offers.
BALMOG
Proudly hailing from Soutomaior, a small town with a very strong pedigree and an impressive castle that used to be the power centre of galician royalty lineages during the middle ages. From heritage, ancestry history and culture comes pride. Also, as i learnt, weather and their relationship with the Atlantic sea in this part of Spain shapes moods, personalities & and idiosyncratic approach to life.
All these peculiarities shapes Balmog’s music and live appearance: upright canonical in shape and hermetic in appearance. The night of saturday the 8th of april we witnessed something we believed almost gone after years of compulsive concert going, a channelling of contagious raw energy in such a display from the band it was simply impossible to lay back without feeling a spark shaking our disposable bones.
A profane less versed in Balmog’s discography as I am, I wouldn’t dare to play around trying to guess what the setlist was; but judging by the backdrop with the EVE artwork I would say that most of the concert oscillated around material from that album. Balmog worked like a perfectly oiled machine in which each piece is fully aware of its surroundings without needing to look up, while the members of the group let themselves be possessed and carried away.
We needed to see again, to feel, to fill ourselves with the essence and energy of a concert where every vibration of the amplifiers emanated freedom. Free for an instant, an instant in which nothing but the here and now matter, in this Balmog exceeded, without grandiloquence, without rehearsed routines, just a discharge of energy from the black flame that keeps alive the underground Black Metal.
Full photo gallery of the concert
Covenants Of Salt
Balmog‘s concert was not the only surprise of the evening. The triarchy formed by War Anthem Records, BlackSeed Production & In Pulverem Mortis Prod have ready Balmog‘s new EP, Covenants of Salt each taking care of a different format. There is more to salt than meets the taste buds and with this MLP they follow in the wake of Pillars of Salt, that great MLP released in 2020 and that meant a change of concept, image.
“In the essence of salt is the power of water and the power of fire, which signify two of the [Divine] attributes on which the world is established.”
Leaving behind canonical themes and aesthetics of black metal that have been carving in their extensive discography since 2006, this duo of MLP delve into more ambitious grounds. Ambition without strategy usually fails and ends in nothing, intentional or not; I think Pillars Of Salt along with Covenants of Salt are a giant step towards opening any door the group intends to knock on.
Conceptually, as I have already said, it abandons the usual black metal thematic and goes into deeper theological grounds, Covenant of Salt being present in our ancient judeo-christian tradition, having a deep meaning as found on writings in the Leviticus or Tanakh: a covenant between man and god, the human and divine, the corporal and spiritual was sealed with salt.
“As salt was added to foods, to preserve them from decay, it became a symbol of incorruptibility and permanence. A “covenant of salt” signified an everlasting covenant.”
Salt being an element deeply related to the Galician culture and their covenant with the sea, Balmog´s cryptic lyrics we can deduce who they seal the everlasting covenant with.
“FROM BETWEEN THE CLOUDS
ARISES A GREAT TOWER
ILLUMINATED BY A STAR
OF EXALTING AND THREATENING LIGHT
FROM ITS PEAK
I WILL REACH TO SEE YOUR DESIGNS
UNTIL I LAUNCHED AND SUCCUMPH
BETWEEN CLOUDS OF ASH
AND THERE WILL BE MY LAST RESTING (PLACE)
TEAR ME OUT OF MORTALITY
THROUGH OCEANS OF FIRE
DROWNED BY THE WATERS OF HATE
SHATTERING THE HEART OF THE MOST DIVINE AND SACRED.
SHATTERING THE ENTRAILS OF THE EARTH
UNTIL ALL HOPE AND LIGHT ARE BANISHED”
in terms of production, the album has counted on two stars who are already more than rising, fully established. Javier Félez, not only has been in charge of Balmog’s guitar in the live performances, but he also takes the baton at the controls of his Moontower Studios to record Covenants of Salt. For the mastering they have counted on another figure that is becoming another heavyweight, the Colombian based in UK; Jaime Gómez Arellano. Both have an enviable curriculum of top bands that count on their services and the good work is palpable.
I admit that I am a big fan of this kind of musical concepts because of its complexity, difficulty and that when it is well done, which are few occasions; the albums become authentic works of art. It has reminded me perhaps by tone, guitar style and the duality of clean voice, courtesy of Fiar (Jade, Foscor, Graveyard), of two of the bands that have interested me the most in recent years: Darvaza and Fides Inversa. With the latter I had a little deja-vu with their superlative EP ¨Rite of Inverse Incarnation¨.
What I find great about the mammoth EP Covenant of Salt, no matter how many listens I give it, it is one of those timeless works impossible to get tired of. Why is that so? Simple, Nailing the balance between transmitting the wide range of sensations and feelings that encloses the black metal spun with the ability to create, maintain and explode the tension of the relentless synergetic atmosphere. The final result is a more mature work, maybe with an experience acquired after Pillars of Salt to have a clever production scheme and a better developed ideas to structurate and work this kind of conceptual long songs.
Interview with Balc
A recently finished tour with a relatively unknown band like Gleichmacher and another band that hardly plays live, the swedish Ultra Silvam. What did you get from the tour and how did this alliance come about?
For some years now we have decided to take advantage of Easter to organize small tours, we did it with Graveyard years ago, with Kringa last year and this year we played with Ultra Silvam and Gleichmacher. The idea originally came from Absurde Rituale, a German promoter where Thilo, Gleichmacher’s guitarist, works. He asked us to do this three-man tour and we proposed to do it on these dates. He was aware of how we work both as a band and when it comes to organizing events, as we have known each other for a few years and he had already organized some tours in Germany.
The choice of Easter is a priori somewhat problematic, as there are many people on vacation, promoters shit on everything, travel (especially from the “big” and “hot” cities) but our experience at that time has always been very positive. We find that in many cities people come from other cities who are on vacation or passing through, so one thing for another. On a more normal date, so to speak, in cities like Madrid or Barcelona we would probably get more people, but in the end it went very well in terms of attendance, with a hundred or so people in the big cities and always close to a hundred on the rest of the dates.
In total we calculate that between all the dates we got about 900 people, which is not bad for a tour of these characteristics, and on dates like Coruña where we did a clandestine concert with a limited capacity of 30 people, we probably managed to do one of the concerts that we will remember in the future, with an atmosphere and an attitude that we have rarely felt in all these years. Not that it was a priority, but in terms of economic solvency it was also really good, we managed to cover everything with the first dates, Balmog we ran out of merch … the balance is very positive.
I think that the three bands, despite their musical differences, we got an attractive line-up for black metal lovers and each band defended their vision and their way of doing things in a solvent way. There was a very good atmosphere among us during the tour, with excesses everywhere but with camaraderie and collaboration. There are a thousand anecdotes and a thousand stories that will remain in our memories.
Balc
Before the tour you announce the departure of Javi Felez from the live line-up. What are the reasons? What has been and is the role of his figure in the band?
Javi is still a member of Balmog, that is to say, he will continue being an active part and with full decision capacity within the band as the rest of the members. For the live show we will have other people to replace him, but it was something that already happened to us on occasion. Even on this tour we did some gigs as a trio, so it’s not really a situation we haven’t dealt with.
Javi Bastard
It’s a curious situation to say the least, so we’ll see how it works and how we deal with it, but it’s not something we’re worried about right now. Regarding the decision, Javi has made it very clear. He is tired of everything that playing live entails and of how difficult it is to combine that activity with a very demanding job and with his private life. With what I’m going to tell you I don’t intend to give pity, or explain how hard it is or blah, blah, blah … if we do this is because we like it, period, but it is difficult for many people to realize what it takes to organize and participate in a tour of more than a week like the one we have done or any other event. You have to rehearse, send literally close to a thousand emails, prepare the trip, arrange personal and work issues…and all for 45 minutes that may not go as well as you expected.
To that you have to add the level of self-control of each one, since around you every day you have all the vices imaginable. That mixture of hangovers, kilometers, bad smell, tiredness and illness is hard to bear, so it is understandable that anyone, at some point in their life, might consider stopping. Javi has decided to do so and we have not tried to refute even the slightest word, we have respected it and that’s it, because we all know how hard it is and how much we have to give up.
It is often simply a question of when each of us is going to give up this kind of life. In any case, Javi will continue participating in the band as he has done in the last years, contributing ideas, even if they are generic, about where the band should go. Balmog we have always gone step by step, advancing slowly, but always advancing because we have always marked a clear roadmap, and in that Javi is also an expert having worked with hundreds of bands and being in this world for decades. From a creative point of view Javi has been contributing a lot for years, and I don’t think any of the parties want to give it up.
Upcoming concerts in Belgium and Germany at the end of April. Expectations at European level?
A lot of expectations. We have always had a good reception abroad, but we are not going to come with the Héroes del Silencio story that we are better understood abroad than inside (by the way, Javi played on this tour with a Juan Valdivia`s amplifier head…), the scope we have is what it is, in the sense that nowadays there are hundreds of bands and you are just one more, but well, we have always felt comfortable and supported abroad and the response has been good, but I insist, within certain limits, we are not going to sell any movie.
In Belgium we will play for the first time, also we will play with some advantage because our second guitarist both in Namur and Berlin, will be Thomas, a Belgian colleague who plays in several bands there, like Heinous or Perkolatör, but we have some expectations.
In Belgium, I don’t know why, we have always had a certain following. We have had a relationship with the people from Possession, Slaughter Messiah or Heinous for years, but for some reason whenever we had the option to play there, we couldn’t do it, so we are going to get rid of that thorn a little bit. It looks like it’s going to be a bit hard because we have to re-schedule to travel to Berlin, so we’re going back to the theme of self-control, behaving well, and blah, blah…but well, we’ll try to do the best we can.
Virus
The line up of Berlin is especially powerful. Having seen many of those bands I think Balmog doesn’t envy anything, but maybe shomehow something is missing for the Spanish scene to take off internationally. Do you think that in this topic there is debate?
We are always asked the same question and I always have the same answer. In the end it depends essentially on us. Proclamation have been able to play in half of Europe (and the world), Graveyard the same, 13th Moon the same…why shouldn’t the rest of us? It is clear that there is a factor that has to do with luck, hype, contacts, etc, but then it also depends on the attitude of a band, how they move and how they defend what they do. In the end they end up calling us, that is to say, it’s not so much that we want to play as that they don’t want us to play, so well, in part I won’t deny that we feel proud of it.
Normally these events usually give way to others, since people from bands, labels and other festivals attend, and if they like what they see, they can call you for other things. But this speech of if we were Swedish or Norwegian we would do better, I buy it in part, and of course, I think that we rarely hear us verbalize it that way, as if there was some kind of conspiracy against the groups here … that argument is childish, shabby and usually comes from people who have no other way to justify their mediocrity.
Morg
Pillars of Salt was very ambitious and I admit that I really like this kind of long songs, how did the idea come up and how did it develop conceptually as a change from the skull/bones artwork to photography (tremendous style) and going deeper into religious themes?
Pillars of Salt besides being ambitious, was an experiment. An experiment that went well, but it was really very risky from all points of view, both in the format, as well as in its composition and final execution. The idea of making such a long single track was something almost casual. At first the idea was to make a kind of split or half track composed between Balmog and Varurian, one of Rober‘s projects from Ovakner/Ruinas/Machetazo.
We have been collaborating with him for years when it comes to creating atmospheric passages and parts of intros and outros, so it seemed like a different idea to build a track between both parts. Obviously the thing didn’t go ahead (maybe we’ll give it a twist in the future), as little by little the riffs were getting some identity and entity, and it occurred to us that we could build a single track with all that. In that sense, one of the keys is the Daudaferd of Pest, a single theme composed with different atmospheres that give rise to a really sublime set. In addition it also shares that epic and more ethereal tone that Pillars has, or rather the other way around, he,he. Other influences could be Vemod, obviously Burzum and of course, At War with Satan, but what was surely more present was the Daudaferd of Pest. The composition process was curious, as we created a kind of puzzle to which we gave narrative sense, but really until it was recorded, we had no idea how it was going to sound. Hence the riskiness of the proposal. With Covenants it has been a little different, we are much more confident, but we have also tried to reflect that spontaneity that we believe is also part of what Balmog is in general.
Experimental in the musical and experimental in the conceptual. We believed that we had to give this work a lot of identity, and it occurred to us that we could also give a twist in general to the artistic, so we decided to make this cover different from what we had done before. The images of Pink Floyd’s Echoes and the photograph of the back of Slowly we Rot is where we got the idea for the photograph. We think we totally hit the nail on the head, it’s an almost iconic cover for the band I would say. About the lyrics and concept itself, we focused on a pretty basic idea. How the human being, despite knowing the negative consequences of a certain action, is able to move forward, we transferred that idea to the story of Lot and how human beings have the ability to break the divine rules and build their own future, even though we can make mistakes, a concept that clashes with the teleological concept of the world with an end determined by god opening an open future, without end. Fuck the concept of the end of history basically.
Returning to short songs in EVE caught me off guard, maybe I expected a different development of Balmog after Pillars of Salt, but following it with another MLP that digs even deeper and returns to the style / aesthetic seems a good move, it was thought so from the beginning or is something that has arisen spotaneouslyn ?
In Balmog there is nothing random. It was something partly premeditated in the sense that we never left a door closed. We had clear what should be the character of EVE, we knew that Pillars had been a parenthesis and that we had to return again to a certain darkness that we believe that EVE has.
But after editing EVE, between the many ideas that have been arising, we realized that there were things that did not fit us in what could be a next album of Balmog, so we decided to open again that way. I think in the end in Balmog there is a kind of constant mix of spontaneity and planning that really works for us. I guess we leave a certain explosiveness in the first steps of an idea and then we try to shape it and plan as best we can to make it make sense, but it’s a more complex process than it seems. What has a face and sees the light, is a part of what we do, but there are a lot of ideas that we discard for a thousand reasons or circumstances. If we have learned anything in all these years, is that the most difficult but at the same time the key to any creative process, is not to compose, but to select, sift and keep the essence of something.
Another thing we have clearly played with is the surprise factor. Nobody expected that we were going to release a Pillars, but nobody expected that we were going to release an EVE, just like now, few people expected that a sequel to Pillars was going to take shape. It’s something that is partly surprising for us too, but we like it, it’s a way to get that spontaneity and life into the band. We know more or less what are the next steps we are going to take, but we will also leave that margin to spontaneity.
Can we expect a MLP series between discs that follow this aesthetic/theme, trilogy or tetralogy perhaps?
It could be. As I was telling you there is a part of our creative process that we want it to be something more explosive and direct, to have that surprise effect, but we also like it to make sense. It is possible that we will continue with some similar idea, who knows… but what we are clear about those parameters of controlled spontaneity, so to speak, we want it to continue. No doubt we would like to continue working with “minor” editions, we have always felt very comfortable with this type of work and it gives us that margin to be able to do things a little different or to reopen paths that perhaps had been left a little aside. We have some ideas in this regard to be able to work in the medium term, so well, it is possible that part of the idea you raise will be fulfilled.
As I said, I’m amazed by this kind of songs mostly because I don’t know anything about music, but I can imagine the work it takes to create a piece like this from scratch and the whole creative process is immense. What is it like for you to make this kind of songs?
Well, you must know something about music, ha,ha. The process of composing something like this is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, in the end it’s not much more difficult than composing a song with a certain structure, but perhaps the key to something like this is the length and getting the song to constantly maintain the tension and the elements that are necessary to get the listener’s attention. That’s the challenge. But yes, the way to compose it is not very different from making a normal song, looking for a coherent structure.
In the case of Covenants, the structure of the song is quite simple in its essence, it is the typical structure of a rock and roll song, with a “pyramid” shape, that is to say, with a beginning that goes in crescendo, a zenith and a fall in which part of the initial pattern is repeated. The only thing we have added to this structure is a kind of opening and denouement, which helps to increase the feeling of tension. We also wanted these two sequences, the initial and final, to have a marked epic and ominous character, a bit like a symphony (saving a lot of distances…), but in the end it is just that, a simple and concise narrative structure that has been used for millennia in narrative, poetry, music or cinema. We are not risking too much in that sense, we do not do jazz and we are not David Lynch, Prost, Penderecki or Schönberg …
Covenant of Salt, why?
Partly by chance, that is, we started from the idea of doing something that would continue with the legacy of Pillars of Salt, so we thought it would be interesting to continue playing with the title. Pillars of Salt, as I was saying, refers to the story of Lot. The concept of covenants of salt is something that is constantly reflected in the bible as an unbreakable agreement, sealed with blood and fire. We liked that idea of ironclad commitment, and in this case, with the almost instinctive objective of the human being to seek and achieve knowledge at all costs, even playing with the laws of nature and divinity itself.
The famous search for the tree of science and the fire of knowledge. In part the title is therefore linked to this concept of the Ep, we thought that the title fit with that idea. On the other hand, and I’m not going to deny it, we are big fans of Morbid Angel, so there is also that purely musical reference. There are titles of songs or albums that quickly take you to musical references and we are not going to deny that this intention is also hidden behind the title, it is a small wink to one of the bands that although it seems lie, more influenced Balmog.
Covenant of Salt is perhaps a relatively obscure concept, although quite essential as it is about, in a manner of speaking, a communion with god. Where I’m going with this is about the subject matter, lyrics and concepts throughout the albums you have released with Balmog, which are further away from the typical black metal superficiality with Satan here, Lucifer there etc. In which themes do you find inspiration and motivation to learn and write about it?
Absolutely everything can be something to deal with in our lyrics but obviously we try to approach it from a certain perspective since we are a black metal band. We have always insisted on this, we don’t intend to proselytize anything or create some kind of hermetic text that lays the foundations of any knowledge. The only thing we try with our lyrics is to find a link with philosophy or theology and life situations that have to do with the “darker” parts of our lives. In Covenants of Salt we talk about the search for knowledge as a human need, something that is denied by God and that appears as a sin in the Holy Scriptures.
The very creation and accumulation of knowledge is seen as something negative, as an attack on divinity, since knowledge leads to wisdom, wisdom leads to criticism, and criticism leads to the destruction of values and the creation of new ones. That is understood as something out of place, but in those same scriptures and values, it is recognized as part of the human essence and therefore moral and religious codes are created that try to close that path. All sin is in itself a human quality, it is part of our nature.
The references we usually use come from theology and religious texts but also from literature, poetry or other sources that we see that can function as an object of reflection. The other day, for example, I came to the conclusion that part of the concept of Covenants of Salt can be influenced by The Tree of Science. It was a book that marked me in my adolescence and that in part may have been an unintentional reference in Covenants. The way the book deals with access to knowledge and even the mistake that can be made in turning that knowledge into a quasi-religion has always seemed very interesting to me.
As you have already mentioned authors, reading and film have inspired you in some way to develop the concepts and ideas in Balmog.
Art, like sin, is another human need. It is a way to be fulfilled from a vital point of view and is therefore, like sin, part of our soul as human beings. To restrain that passion, is a mistake from my point of view. Each person must see how to develop that artistic spirit, it does not have to be something regulated, academic or even voluntary.
The artistic will can be developed in a thousand ways and with a thousand resources, not necessarily with music, painting or, for example, writing. The artistic fact is something that differentiates us from the rest of the “bugs” of paradise and that identifies us. As I was telling you before, there are thousands of references that in a more or less voluntary or involuntary way can mark us, and many times we are not even aware of them until much later, but in the end I guess that’s what it’s all about, trying to use all the baggage that one has to then be able to create.
And this is the final question: last book you have read?
It is usual for me to read several books at the same time, although I recognize that I shouldn’t do it, ha, ha. I usually start several and then I focus on the one I feel like reading the most, but the truth is that lately I don’t read as much as I used to read before. I have to try to recover that habit a bit more since it is one of the things I enjoy the most. I don’t have whatsapp, I don’t have social networks and what I have to invest for Balmog (there if I have to make an effort) I try to concentrate it so that it takes as little time as possible. But even so, in the end one is absorbed by this tendency to brevity and information bulimia, gobbling and digesting at full speed. It is difficult to dedicate time and patience to something, stopping and reflecting actively, calmly and attentively. But well, I’ll cut to the chase.
The last book that has hooked me is Erebus by Michael Palin. And I’m going to explain why it is marking me so much. The book came to me from the hands of Thomas, the Belgian guy who is playing with Balmog live on some occasions. He lived for a while on a ship and the book revolves around a series of experiences and events on the ships Erebus and Terror. The fact that it was a gift and there was that connection already appealed to me. The second thing is the story itself. Well, I have not said it but the book is not a novel, but a fairly successful mixture of travel book and adventure story always with some scientific basis in which the expeditions made by the ships Erebus and Terror are told. I find that story fascinating. The most similar thing that I think could exist today could be a trip to Mars or something like that, I don’t know, it’s amazing to think that until not so long ago the knowledge of our planet was much less.
I’ve always liked those ship stories, I’ve read the logbooks of Columbus and Vasco de Gama a few times, ha,ha. I find it brutal the dynamics that are created between a group of people in a small space, with unimaginable limitations but with a goal that drives them on. What I also quite like about the book is the approach to this point, that is, on the one hand there is a romanticism about the subject that is very attractive, but on the other hand, the author frames it in the imperialist and colonizing dynamics of the Birtan Empire, under a tremendously violent Victorian morality. And that nuance that removes a bit of fetishism and idealization I like. The other reason why I liked the book is because of the author. I don’t know, I find the figure of Michael Palin incredible and the truth is that I didn’t know many things about him that have surprised me, so it has also led me to be a little more interested in Pijus Magnificus, ha,ha.
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