News : Premiere: Norwegian black metallers Sons of Balaur release brand new track “Old Relics”

From the icy depths of Oslo, Norway, come the mighty Sons of Balaur, a band that was a significant part of the first wave of Norwegian black metal, and who have been around for quite a long time. A cryptic, mysterious lot, the band have returned after a massive 15 years of their ‘self-imposed exile in the netherworld’ to unleash “Old Relics” from their new album, Tenebris Deos…

In all truth, Sons of Balaur are a clearly fictitious band; based around the highly acclaimed graphic novel, ‘Realm of the Damned’, and aiming to honour the second wave of black metal in Norway during the early ’90s. For the full bios, see below.

And now, Metal Obsession is proud to present the Australian premiere for “Old Relics” below!

Tenebris Deos is out on October 14th via Season of Mist. Pre-orders available here.

‘Tenebris Deos’, out October 14 via Season of Mist

SONS OF BALAUR have come to life. Straight out of the highly acclaimed ‘Realm of the Damned’ graphic novel, this obviously fictional Norwegian band is actually delivering a remarkable first full-length. Yet while the graphic novel comes across as bloody as brutal, the biography of the demonically possessed maniacs is offered quite tongue-in-cheek as well as representing a respectful nod to the early Nordic black metal scene with its fanatic ideology and criminal record.

In stark contrast to this, the musical intentions behind SONS OF BALAUR’s real-life debut album ‘Tenebris Deos’ should be taken very seriously.

Although the band is supposedly of Norwegian origin, the style of sound and the densely woven guitar-work of ‘Tenebris Deos’ clearly points towards an English back-ground with many cross-references to scene classics from BATHORY, CELTIC FROST, and VENOM to the second and even third generations on black metal.

All of this remains pure speculation, while the true and official story of SONS OF BALAUR can be read below.

…

SONS OF BALAUR are a trve kvlt black metal band based in Oslo, Norway. Formed in March, 1992, the band was part of the original first wave of Norwegian black metal – a notorious inner circle of underground artists who took music to extremes it had never previously reached. Started in secret, for obvious reasons, the band features some of Norwegian black metal’s most dedicated and shadowy personalities: Tomas (vocals, guitar), Markus (bass), Kristoffer (guitar), and Lars (drums).

All members hail from the small town of Øksfjord in the very far north of Norway, inside the Arctic Circle, have known each other since their troubled childhood, and are followers of the dark arts. Their songs are as much invocations of the black forces of the underworld as they are music. Their recordings have been kept closely guarded within a tight-knit community of like-minded servants of the night, and remained unreleased in any official form until now. Their new album is an invocation of the dark vampiric overlord of chaos and death: Balaur.

Lead singer Tomas (all surnames are withheld due to legal reasons) is one of black metal’s most infamous, yet secretive, personalities. Having burned down two churches (a centuries-old wooden stave church in Øksfjord, Norway, and a fortified church listed as a heritage site in Transylvania, Romania) Tomas has been imprisoned for arson, and has also been arrested twice on murder charges – though, in both cases, he was released as a result of insufficient evidence.

A fateful chance meeting at the legendary Helvete record shop in Oslo brought the old friends back together, where this group ignored the rest of those who frequented Helvete – a gathering place and centre of nefarious activity for all those involved in black metal’s inner circle in its early days.

They formed SONS OF BALAUR and began rehearsing in earnest. Several demos were recorded – but none were ever officially released to a wider audience. These early years yielded such legendary recordings as: ‘To Summon Him’ (1993, unreleased, cassette only); ‘The Dark Lord Shall Rise’ (1995, unreleased, cassette only), ‘Bloodfrenzy’ (1996, ultra-rare 7″ single) and ‘The Equanimity Of Chaos’ (1999, unreleased, cassette only).

The band has, until now, only played to secretive gatherings of the followers of the cult of Balaur, a vampire whose legends permeate the darkest recesses of Romanian folklore and sorcery. No one knows the real name of this legendary Carpathian predator. Known as ‘Balaur’ (the Dragon) for his demonic ability to breathe fire, he existed for a relatively short period in 15th/16th century Europe, feared among mortals and vampires alike. His origin is a mystery lost in time, though his bloodline was clearly mixed with ‘something else’ – a scion of House Petrova, Balaur remained a wild animal scything across the battlefields of Europe completely out of control, even fighting alongside the ‘Great Impaler’ Vlad Tepes. He did as he pleased, upsetting the Petrovas’ schemes, until it fell to his blood-sister, Athena, to make the decision to murder him for the good of the family.

Following Balaur’s death at the hands of his sister, his loyal retainers retrieved a fragment of his body, which they revered as an unholy relic, dedicating themselves to finding a way of resurrecting him. This cult has endured for centuries, but has become a forgotten footnote in the occult history books – remembered only by the most dedicated acolytes.

The band’s live shows are rumoured to have included occult rituals, mass orgies, extreme violence, and even human sacrifice – with the ultimate offering being made in an attempt to summon the undead. More of a Satanic ceremony than a live black metal performance, these “gigs” have been highly secretive, in an attempt to avoid attention from the vampire hunting organisation (themselves extremely enigmatic) known as “The Congregation”.

The band dropped out of public sight in the year 2000. Rumours have persistently spread that they disappeared after travelling in the murky Transylvanian region of Romania – that they had been murdered, sacrificed at one of their own shows by competing followers of the vampire Balaur. The truth about what had become of SONS OF BALAUR, where they had disappeared to, or even if they still survived, remained a mystery… until now!

After an absence of fifteen years, during which no one outside of the most extreme Satanic circles has known anything that could be substantiated about their activities, the SONS OF BALAUR have returned from their self-imposed exile in the netherworld to release their debut full length album ‘Tenebris Deos’.

Related Posts

• 

  El Colosso – Forgotten Ancestors
• 

  HJELVIK – Welcome to Hel
• 

  AC/DC – Power Up
• 

  Depravity – Grand Malevolence