The Coherence of Be'Lakor
Photo Credit Oli Sansom
BE‘LAKOR, Australian Progressive Death Metal powerhouse have made a huge impact on the international heavy metal scene, attracting attention with their technical-driven yet melodic songwriting, now almost 15 years later, the legendary quintet returns with their new album Coherence which is released today. Coherence displays BE’LAKOR’s impressive spectrum of musical abilities, ranging from 12-minute-long journeys on “Much More Was Lost” to the fully instrumental “Sweep of Days”. Coherence is testament to the band’s musical ability and demonstrates they are not afraid to focus on extensive, cohesive songwriting which still manages to keep the listener on their toes.
Thank you for taking the time to answer some questions for Music Festivals Australia/Music Kingdom Australia
My pleasure - cheers for being keen to discuss our new album with us.
Be’lakor are described as Progressive Death metal, is that how you categorize it?
We usually go with progressive/melodic death metal. We’ve always been a melodic death metal band, and we still are at our core. It’s just gradually started to include a few more progressive elements along the way.
For those that don’t know, what is Progressive Death metal? How is it different from the basic label of metal?
Good question! Progressive death metal will normally play around with song structures, explore longer songs, potentially include a wider range of time signatures, and usually have some more pronounced shifts between these within a single song. In theory, it should be pushing into new ideas and new territory a little bit!
This album has been five years in the making, what can the fans expect from Coherence?
Our hope with Coherence was that we could create a meaningful journey for listeners. There is something quite satisfying about that feeling of setting out on a journey and knowing that you’ll be taken through many twists and turns, and many moods, before having the final resolution. For people who already know and like our music, the new album should hopefully feel like a natural extension of that – we have really emphasised big, heavy riffs and melancholy melodies on this album.
Coherence Album Cover
What does the album mean to you? Both personally, how does it fit into the band's journey so far?
It feels like we’ve taken all the learning that came from our first four albums, and tied that together into a coherent whole (excuse the pun!) Personally, it’s the longest I’ve ever worked on an album, but possibly also the most I’ve enjoyed making an album.
Were there any memorable moments during the making of it?
Well, lockdown number 3 was pretty good, but does it top lockdown number 5? Hard to say haha. In all seriousness though, one of the coolest things about making this album was hanging out at the home studio of the Melbourne legend Troy McCosker. He and his fiancé Alana made us feel really welcome, and we got to spend a lot of time talking about music and life, and having fun with their awesome dog Charlie.
This was your first time working with label powerhouse, Napalm Records, is there anything they did different, or you learned from such an established studio?
It was actually our second time – they were along for the ride with us in 2016 as well, when we released Vessels, but we’ve found them to be a great bunch of people, and they’re quite patient with us given our albums do take a long time to make. They’re now helping us to plan our upcoming tours, and their experiences and contacts in the industry are huge for this.
Coherence is being released with 1 standard version, 2 different Limited Editions as well as a Die Hard Edition. What’s the bonus or extras for the collectors of Be’lakor memorabilia?
It was great to have Napalm Records help us in creating some nice special editions this time. We’d never had too much in the way of deluxe versions before. Because our songs are so long and take a lot of time to create, we didn’t have any spare ‘bonus tracks’ lying around for these – but we have offered fans some cool collectibles, including a limited edition coin, a wall flag, and a very nice metal etching with the lyrics.
Are you excited with lockdowns ending, to be able to tour the album?
Yeah, we can’t wait! We’re working with Destroy All Lines now to plan our Aussie tour, so keep an eye out for more on that!
The Band has played multiple overseas metal festivals, Summer Breeze Open Air and Brutal Assault just to name two, with Australia having a new range of metal festivals, will we see you at any of these or will the band concentrate more on the international events?
I hope so – we’d be excited to play some big Australian shows. It’s been really good to see live music beginning to become a real possibility again, and I think some exciting new things are cooking in Australia in terms of heavy music and festivals. Let’s see what we can make happen. We’re also planning our first US tour, and a return to Europe.
What's your Favourite thing about touring and being on the road?
Where do I start? There’s so much to like (and we only do it very infrequently, so it always feels special) but some of the best things for me, have been the memories you create by spending that time with some of your best friends, and also the chance to enjoy the great food and beer in Europe. It’s also an incredibly rewarding thing to meet people overseas who actually love your music and have been waiting to see you – that’s a pretty surreal feeling.
What's the worst part about touring and being on the road?
Cramped, long car rides, and a lack of showering haha.
How did you get your start in music?
We’re all self-taught, so it’s just been a long, gradual journey of meeting the right people, trial and error, and lots of jamming and writing. There’s no single thing that kicked it off, and we all had our own path that we took. From the band’s perspective, probably the biggest break that helped us a lot was being invited to Germany’s Summer Breeze Festival in 2010 – that was our first time playing overseas. It pushed things for us a bit in Europe and since then we’ve been able to return another two times, with more to come hopefully.
Who do you credit as your musical influences?
There are a lot – but some of the biggest would be Opeth and Agalloch. Growing up, I also listened to a lot of AC/DC!
Where was your first gig as Be’lakor? Was it a success or flop?
Well it was a small crowd, but we were really happy with it. I believe it was at The Arthouse – a great little venue in Melbourne which we probably played at 15 times or so between 2006 and 2009!
What’s been the highlight in your career so far personally? And why?
Definitely playing in Europe at Summer Breeze. It was a thrill the first time, and it’s always remained an absolutely special place for us.
Who in your crew or team deserves a shout out but never gets one? And what is it they do that keeps your world turning?
We’ve got a great group of roadies who are really just some of our best mates. They’ve come on almost all our tours, and it was only the most recent tour where we were actually able to pay for their airfares. So they’ve been incredible. A big shout out to Kayne, Pete, Giles, Phil and Jack! And also to Matt Dodds, who stepped in for some live shows in 2015 on lead guitar and has been a big support.
What can we expect from Be’lakor with 2022 almost here?
Let’s hope you’ll see a whole pile of live dates announced soon – and then maybe a shorter wait until our follow-up album as well!
Photo Credit Oli Sansom