Bal-Sagoth – Starfire Burning Upon The Ice-Veiled Throne Of Ultima Thule (1996)

April 26, 2023

If this record was an instrumental then it would be so, so much better. After really enjoying their debut record, I found Starfire… to be a massive disappointment. Everything is turned up to 11, and not necessarily in a good way. Sometimes it feels like all the instruments are fighting for space in the mix. Now and then it works, but in some moments it is really clumsy and the guitars and synthesizers are just falling all over each other.

This could be forgiven however, if it wasn’t for every goddamn fucking second of breathing room, there’s this ridiculous narration just slathered all over the top. It’s hard to tell what the guy is saying because of the slight pitchshifter effect, and added to the complaint in the above paragraph, then Starfire… becomes almost unlistenable in parts. So many good instrumental passages on this album are ruined by the endless narration.

I mean, out of all the shit that I’ve listened to over the years, it’s funny that it’s something as pompous as Bal-Sagoth that’s made me tap out, but fuck me, these guys need to chill the fuck out. It’s too much, man.