Be’Lakor: The Saving Grace And The Black Sheep
The world of melodic death metal has been in a somewhat precarious state in recent times. While the pioneering names of IN FLAMES, DARK TRANQUILITY and AT THE GATES remain in touch with their creative embers, the subgenre has been cited as a breeding ground for copycats and a general lack of innovation. Yet, working with an understated but fierce consistency and a taste for novelty – with strong progressive undertones – Australia’s BE’LAKOR has carved themselves a place of respect and prestige; having even been touted as one of Australia’s best prog metal bands by Louder. Crafting like clockwork since 2007’s The Frail Tide, 2021 introduces the band’s sixth LP with a visage of sinister, splintering oak under the guise of Coherence. With no end to the band’s ruthless creative force in sight, keyboard and piano master Steven Merry guides us through the inception of this latest opus.
Merry begins with a moment of introspection, as it dawns that the following year will mark 15 years since the band’s first album. “At first we didn’t really have a plan at all,” Merry ponders, “we just wanted to make music, and have fun, and then that was also true for the second album and then for a year or two we said ‘let’s just see how big this could get!’ But since then, all the guys have had families, we’ve got jobs, and we’re happy to keep the band growing in a way that is manageable, enjoyable, and that I think will make us able to sustain for longer. There’s no reason to stop doing what we do if it works with our lives, whereas if we were trying to like burn ourselves out, we’d probably just crash and burn. It’s a good place right now definitely.”
A good place it is indeed. A place in which the vast expanses of Coherence can be crafted is ‘good’ at an understatement – Merry simply puts it: “If you like BE’LAKOR songs, you’re going to like this.” Does that mean more of the same? Yes and no. Coherence predictability runs thick with the band’s DNA of elaborate song structures and vocal deliveries running smooth like sandpaper yet the band has certainly dug deeper to bring one of their most succinct and fulfilled entries. Unleashing less overtly melodic cuts like crushing single Foothold, their longest song to date in the form of closer Much More Was Lost, alongside the band’s first ‘full-band’ instrumental Sweep of Days – it certainly doesn’t read like a band prepared to slam on the brakes.
But when exactly did BE’LAKOR shift into sixth gear and get the ball on Coherence on its steady roll? How was such a grand opus formed? With a smile of confidence, Merry begins. “I think we got very lucky. We probably got 95% of the album written before the pandemic started so it only really affected the recording process! That, however, was a big hit. Getting into the studio was slowed down and spread out and it took nearly a year longer than planned. We were lucky in that we’d had months to play the songs as a band in a room beforehand but if COVID had come a little earlier we would have been in big trouble.” The rest of course is history and BE’LAKOR emerge triumphant with yet another strong case for melodeath’s vitality – but how does it look from their own lofty heights?
“It’s interesting,” Merry starts, “because we started by listening exclusively to IN FLAMES, DARK TRANQUILITY, AT THE GATES and OPETH and it was a really thriving genre at that time, back in 2002 or so. I do obviously think there’s still really good melodic death metal being made today but it doesn’t seem as explosive or exciting as it was back then. I think it’s still a really good scene to be involved in but our finger isn’t as ‘on the pulse’ as it was when we started as a band, like we’ve just stopped listening as singularly to that genre.”
It certainly seems that, while the band’s mission statement has remained the same, BE’LAKOR has matured past their late 2000’s persona and onto more eclectic influences (Merry cites ANIMALS AS LEADERS, ENSLAVED and A FOREST OF STARS as more contemporary inspirations) in a general push for sonic diversity. This has only served to the band’s benefit with Coherence standing stories high as yet another success story in the group’s expanding archives – BE’LAKOR is yet to muddy their clean slate and, with any hope, it’ll stay that way.
Coherence is out now via Napalm Records.
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