Symphonic black metal is a subgenre of black metal that emerged in the 1990s and incorporates symphonic and orchestral elements. Notable symphonic black metal bands include Cradle Of Filth, Dimmu Borgir, Emperor, Carach Angren and Demonic Resurrection.
Bal-Sagoth were a symphonic black metal band from Sheffield, Yorkshire, England, formed in 1989.
Kimberly Goss is an American singer and keyboardist, best known as frontwoman and co-founder of the Finnish metal band Sinergy.
Primordial are an Irish extreme metal band from Skerries, County Dublin. The band was formed in 1987 by bassist Pól MacAmhlaigh and guitarist Ciarán MacUiliam. Their sound blends black metal and doom metal with Celtic music.
Gian Pyres is an English guitarist, best known for his work with extreme metal band Cradle of Filth for which he recorded guitars for Cruelty and the Beast (1998), Midian (2000), Bitter Suites to Succubi (2001) and Lovecraft & Witch Hearts (2002). He appeared on their DVDs Heavy, Left-Handed and Candid (2001), Live Bait for the Dead (2001) and Peace Through Superior Firepower (2005), and appeared in Alex Chandon's Cradle of Fear (2001). In addition he has appeared in music videos for From the Cradle to Enslave (1999), Her Ghost in the Fog (2000), Born in a Burial Gown (2001) and Scorched Earth Erotica (2002). He also appeared with Cradle of Filth on BBC's Living with the Enemy (1998).
Joe Petagno is an American artist known principally for creating images used on rock album covers for bands such as Led Zeppelin, Nazareth, Black Oak Arkansas, Sweet, Hawkwind, Motörhead, Roy Harper, Marduk, Bal-Sagoth, Autopsy, Attick Demons, Illdisposed and Sodom.
Atlantis Ascendant is the fifth studio album by English metal band Bal-Sagoth. It was released in April 2001 through Nuclear Blast. This was the first Bal-Sagoth album to be recorded with digital recording technology.
The Power Cosmic is Bal-Sagoth's fourth album, released in 1999. The album was Bal-Sagoth's first recording for Nuclear Blast.
The Axis of Perdition is an English industrial black metal band from Middlesbrough, England. They are signed to Code666 Records.
Battle Magic is the third album by Bal-Sagoth, released in 1998 on Cacophonous Records, and is their last recording for that company before they signed to Nuclear Blast. It is the last album to feature Jonny Maudling on drums, who following this album would go on to concentrate fully on playing the keyboards.
Starfire Burning Upon the Ice-Veiled Throne of Ultima Thule is Bal-Sagoth's second full-length album, released in November 1996 through Cacophonous Records. This was the last album to feature Jason Porter on bass guitar, as he was replaced by Alistair MacLatchy in December 1996. As with the first album, the band only had around two weeks to record this album. They had major problems with recording the album: the temperature in the recording studio was so consistently high that the recording equipment broke down several times; and the record company, Cacophonous Records, refused to pay for new tape reels to record on, so the band had to actually record over the first album.
The Chthonic Chronicles is the sixth studio album by English metal band Bal-Sagoth. The first in five years since 2001's Atlantis Ascendant, it is rumoured to be their last album. This album was released in Europe on 10 March 2006 through Nuclear Blast and in the US on 16 May through Candlelight Records. A remastered digipak edition from Metal Mind Productions followed in October 2011, while a second digipak release from Dissonance Productions and a limited edition gatefold vinyl version from Night of the Vinyl Dead were issued in October 2020.
Dave Mackintosh is a Scottish drummer, best known as the former drummer for the power metal band DragonForce. Mackintosh also appeared on The Power Cosmic and Atlantis Ascendant albums, by the symphonic black metal band, Bal-Sagoth.
Jonny Maudling is an English composer, keyboard player and former drummer for the band Bal-Sagoth, keyboardist with the band Kull, former bassist with the unsigned UK thrash band Igniter, and frequent collaborator with the band My Dying Bride. Maudling's primary instruments are Roland synthesizers when playing live. He comes from a musical family and was classically trained on piano from an early age. He has contributed to three My Dying Bride studio albums, provided session orchestration on material by Sermon of Hypocrisy, and played guest keyboards on a full-length release by the Ukrainian metal band Semargl. He composed music for the video game Adellion. Currently Maudling is a producer and engineer, operating his own recording studio called Waylands Forge Studios in Yorkshire, England.
Byron Roberts, also known as Byron A. Roberts, is the vocalist/lyricist and founder of the British symphonic extreme metal band Bal-Sagoth. He is also the author of "The Chronicles of Caylen-Tor" book series published by DMR Books, as well as the author of several short stories and poems which have been published in various fantasy and horror fiction anthologies. Originally hailing from Yorkshire, England, and also holding full Canadian citizenship due to many years spent living in Ontario and Quebec, Roberts graduated from Sheffield Hallam University with an Honours Degree in English, writing his final year thesis on the genres of pulp fantasy, science fiction and horror, and more specifically the works of H.P. Lovecraft. Roberts originated Bal-Sagoth's concept and writes all the lyrics for the band, having performed the vocals on all six Bal-Sagoth albums to date as well as the band's 1993 demo.
The Return of the Black Death is the second recorded and first released studio album by the Norwegian unblack metal band Antestor. It was released on September 14, 1998. It is the band's only release on the British Cacophonous Records label. This album's working title was Kongsblod. Antestor recorded another album, Martyrium, prior to The Return of the Black Death, in 1994, and while bootleg versions of the recording circulated, this album did not see official release until 2000.
Esoteric is the fourth studio album by Swedish metal band Skyfire. It was released on 14 September in the United Kingdom, 18 September for the rest of Europe and October 13, 2009 in North America, through Pivotal Rockordings. The cover artwork was made by Pär Olofsson who also created the artwork for other acts such as The Faceless, Psycroptic and Spawn of Possession along with the layout by Erik Olofsson of Cult of Luna. Martin Hanner revealed that the album is a concept album and that "The cover is basically a guy who is being initiated by a cult," he further responded with:
"You can choose to interpret the guy in pain as he is being burned alive by the cultists just so he can join, or you can interpret the guy as having achieved the power he sought, and he is screaming out of bliss and not pain. It relates to the title because a lot of us would think that what he is doing is kind of ridiculous — why would anyone want to join a cult? But people do strange things and they have their own subjective, esoteric sense of understanding that to the rest of us, is strange or crazy. I think we ALL in some shape or form have esoteric practices that a lot of other people don't 'get,' whether it's believing in something or even listening to metal music."
The works of Robert E. Howard (1906–1936) have been adapted into multiple media, the most famous being the Conan films starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. In addition to the Conan films, other adaptations have included Kull the Conqueror (1997) and Solomon Kane (2009). In television, the anthology series Thriller (1961) led the adaptations with an episode based on the short story "Pigeons from Hell." The bulk of the adaptations have, however, been based on Conan with two animated and one live action series. Multiple audio dramas have been adapted, from professional audio books and plays to LibriVox recordings of works in the public domain. Computer games have focussed on Conan, beginning with Conan: Hall of Volta (1984) and continuing on to the MMO Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures (2008). The first table-top roleplaying game based on Howard's works was TSR's "Conan Unchained!" (1984) for their game Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. The first comic book adaptation was in the Mexican Cuentos de abuelito - La reina de la Costa Negra #8 (1952). Howard-related comic books continued to be published to the present day. Howard is an ongoing inspiration for and influence on heavy metal music. Several bands have adapted Howard's works to tracks or entire albums. The British metal band Bal-Sagoth is named after Howard's story "The Gods of Bal-Sagoth."
Lemuria is a symphonic black metal band from Antwerp, Belgium, formed in 1999. Lemuria is the name of a legendary lost continent.
