Doomed Confessionary: Richard Spencer (Ba’al)
Ba’al is a blackened post-metal band hailing from Sheffield, UK.
Three years since the release of their critically-acclaimed debut »Ellipsism«, with a wealth of live experience under their belts, the band is ready to unveil their new EP, »Soft Eyes«, which will see the light on May 3rd, 2024 through Ripcord Records.
Ba’al are Nick Gosling (guitar), Chris Mole (guitar), Luke Rutter (drums), Richard Spencer (bass) and Joe Stamps (vocals).
Can you say a few words about your band?
Ba’al are a 5-piece metal band from Sheffield UK. We primarily draw from black metal, post-metal and sludge, but we also have elements of doom, post-rock, metalcore and prog. We formed in 2016 and have released two EPs, one standalone single, and our debut album »Ellipsism« in 2020, and we’re just gearing up to release our new EP, »Soft Eyes«, on Ripcord Records on the 3rd of May!
What was the biggest challenge for the band last year?
Our new material is our most dense and complex to date, with lots of layers and new instrumentation over lengthy runtimes with lots of sections in each song, plus some very intense lyrics and vocal performances. As a result, one of the biggest challenges we faced was making sure it all fitted together and flowed well in the writing, demoing and recording processes – all three of those stages took us a very long time and a lot of work, but we think it’s been worth it! Plus the studio flooded whilst we were recording, which was a fun additional challenge… Self-booking our UK tour with Ofnus was also a lot of work and challenging at times, but ultimately we’re really happy with how it went.
What can you be most proud of so far?
We’re very fortunate to have been welcomed by the UK underground scene up and down the country, and one thing we’re especially proud of is seeing our audience organically grow over the years we’ve been playing and releasing music. It’s amazing to find out that our music has reached and impacted so many people, and we’re really lucky that so many people we work with or play alongside end up becoming friends of ours, thanks to the positivity of the community.
What was your biggest regret?
It sounds cheesy, but we don’t really have any regrets! We’ve faced challenges over the years, but every one of them has led us to where we are now, and we wouldn’t want to change that as we’ve learned something at every turn. Having said that, when multiple of us had a birthday on the same day during the recording sessions for Ellipsism, there were some regrets about the amount of cake consumed in one sitting.
What was the best concert/tour so far and why?
There are so many to choose from, but the tour we did with Welsh atmospheric black metal band Ofnus last October stands out in recent memory. We built on what we learned from our first proper tour with our Sheffield post metal buddies Gozer in 2021, and played to humblingly large crowds given the number of new places we were playing. The Liverpool date at The Zanzibar in particular was probably the highlight; the reception we received was incredible, and it was pretty mindblowing to see so many people so excited to hear certain songs in the set.
What was the biggest surprise on the music scene for you?
As well as being sonically heavy, our music is also very emotionally charged, with our vocalist Joe’s lyrics dealing with some pretty heavy, vulnerable and sombre themes. There have been moments where we’ve not been totally sure how that will go over with crowds at typical extreme metal shows where the vibe can be more on the macho side. However, we’ve been consistently surprised at how receptive people are and how much the emotional stuff resonates with people, and it really pushes us to keep doing what we do. Perhaps less surprising but equally worth mentioning is just how many great bands there are on the underground circuit, and we love to be taken aback by a band we’ve never heard of when we play shows.
What is currently in your heavy musical rotation?
We actually do a regular playlist series on our blog where we share what we’ve been listening to (although we’ve not done one this year yet with all the EP prep going on)! I know a lot of bands say this, but between us we really do have a very wide musical taste, taking in all kinds of metal, electronic, pop, indie and experimental music. Some examples of recent listening include Pig Destroyer, Siobhan Wilson, Can, Sunken, Blank Banshee, Spectral Voice and Four Tet.
Can you say something more about the music scene in Sheffield?
Sheffield has a great music scene! Just in case you’re unaware, it’s the hometown of some big, historic names like Def Leppard, Pulp and The Arctic Monkeys, plus modern heavy hitters like Bring Me The Horizon, Malevolence and Rolo Tomassi. Beyond all that, though, there’s a brilliant underground scene here for heavy music, as well as parallel ones for indie, dance music and more. Bloodstock Festival’s Metal 2 the Masses competition has a Sheffield leg which runs every year – and which we won in 2017 – which does a lot to bring bands together, and there are some great promoters and bookers like Heel Turn, Holy Spider and Moon & Stars putting on killer shows across the city and surrounding areas on a regular basis. There’s also a city-wide festival here each summer called Tramlines, and there are always a load of great fringe events during that weekend, including Holy Spider’s Doomlines, which we’ve played a couple of times. Some local bands we’d recommend checking out are naisian (post-metal), Mouths (sludge metal/alt. rock), New Ghost (heavy shoegaze/dream pop), Gozer (post-metal), Terminal Sun (groove/industrial metal), Bansith (alt. metal/metalcore) and Tekrar Eden (prog/psych rock).
Where can we see you live this year (concerts/tours)?
We’ve got some great shows coming up around the UK this year, and we’re working on more! On the 4th of May we’re making our Glasgow debut at Ivory Blacks for the Fires of Alba all-dayer, headlined by The Sun’s Journey Through the Night. Then we’re playing a hometown show in Sheffield on the 25th of May guest headlining the Metal 2 the Masses final at Corporation. On the 30th of May, we’re very excited to be supporting Denmark’s Sunken at the Star and Garter in Manchester, and then at the moment the only other one we can talk about is the 18th of October at the Black Heart in London with Woe from the USA.
What are your plans for the future as a band?
The release of »Soft Eyes« is our main focus at the moment, and we’re looking forward to people hearing it. We’ve written a lot of music since the pandemic, though, so there is plenty more to come after the EP, too. Other than that, we’re planning to keep playing more gigs in more places, sharing our music with more people, and seeing where that takes us!
How can people best support your band?
You can pre-order our EP in physical form from Ripcord Records, or digital form from our Bandcamp, and you can also pick up some merch from us at the latter if you feel so inclined! Other than that, you can follow us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter (no, I’m not calling it X), check out our site baalband.co.uk, and come and say hi at a show!
12. Do you have any message for your listeners?
Thank you so much for the unending support over the years – it means everything to us, and we wouldn’t be able to do what we do without you. We hope you enjoy »Soft Eyes«, and stick with us for everything that is to come!
Links:
Website | Facebook | Instagram | Bandcamp | Spotify | YouTube
Bojan Bidovc // music enthusiast, promoter, misanthrop and sometimes a journalist as well