There are two thought that enter my mind while listening to BAL-SAGOTH's music. The first is a swirling maelstrom of Lovecraftian gods and monsters swirling around a nexus of great futuristic battles for the stars. The second thought is a bit more tangible to the average listener - a gathering of Black, Death, Progressive and Power Metal bands sitting down together and writing the soundtrack for Star Wars. Sound a bit over the top? Maybe. But it makes for some amazing music. BAL-SAGOTH's sixth album, "The Chthonic Chronicles" was released in 2006 in North America on Candlelight Records and in January of 2007, the band played North America for the first time at the Heathen Crusade II Metal festival in St. Paul, MN.

First of all, what are your expectations for playing the U.S. for the first time?

"Well, it's our first ever show over here. We know we've got some fans over here, so hopefully a fair percentage of them come tonight to see us, so we're looking forward to it and hope it's going to go well."

How's the fan reaction been to "The Chthonic Chronicles"?

"It's been really good! You know, the fans have been overwhelmingly positive about it, they really like it. Some of the fans that maybe didn't like our last couple of albums and prefer the first two or three, really like this one, because it does contain more elements of the earlier albums, as well as the later ones. And the press reaction and critical reaction has been really good too, so it's been really good - we're pleased with it."

Now I know there may not be a next album, because it always depends on what's going on, but if and when that should happen, are there any specific ideas you have for it?

"I've always got ideas for the albums kind of sketched out well in advance - theoretically, I've got these sort of rough outline for the next few albums in mind, story-wise, that kind of thing; what kind of music you would need to reflect it, all that sort of stuff. So yeah, the ideas are there, whether or not we'll ever get around to it, though, is a different story."

Why did you choose to have your distribution deal in the U.S. with Candlelight instead of Nuclear Blast?

"We didn't actually choose - that was something that just happened completely without us being notified at all. I think the last couple albums on Nuclear Blast, 'Power Cosmic' and 'Atlantis Ascendant', I think they were handled by Nuclear Blast USA directly. We didn't even know that it was Candlelight USA that was going to be handling this one until... they didn't even inform us; I think a fan informed us. I'd liked for Nuclear Blast to have said something to us like 'oh, you realize that... I'm super sorry that this album is pretty much going to be only available on import in America'. So we weren't even informed about it by the label."

That's weak.

"Mmmmm."

Tell us a little bit about the ideas behind the cover art on this particular album.

"Well this new album, the cover art actually represents the actual book itself, like this ancient, sort of apocryphal imaginary grimoire that I made up, called 'The Chthonic Chronicles'. And very much the essence, very much inspired by HP Lovecraft's 'Necronomicon'; it's sort of like an ancient book of forbidden spells, ancient knowledge and information concerning the terrible other worldly entities and all that kind of thing. And I've had the idea for a long time to make an album cover that was actually the cover of a book. And I told our cover artist, Martin Hanford, about it and sent him some ideas and basically, that's what the album cover represents - physically, it's meant to be the actual cover of this imaginary book itself."

Speaking of Lovecraft, what would be your favorite HP Lovecraft story?

"I guess it would have to be 'The Call Of Cthulu', because I just love that story so much. That was one of the first ones I ever read by him. And I've also got it on audio tape read by the actor Garrick Hagon, which is like a pretty cool collectable, so I got him to sign the tape case when I saw him at a Star Wars convention, so it was pretty cool. So yeah, that's definitely my favorite Lovecraft story."

Are you ever amused by people that think the Necronomicon was a real book and wasn't something that Lovecraft cooked up on his own?

"Yeah, a lot of people do believe that it existed. People, you know, there's stories of people over the past few decades who have even gone into book stores to ask about it and like libraries and stuff. Then of course, you've got the various editions of the Necronomicon that came out, like the one, I think it was Avon books (that) did a paperback edition. But yeah, it is always pretty amusing that people... I mean, it's a testament to Lovecraft's sort of convincing, creative narrative power that people are so convinced by this book's existence that they've gone out and tried to find copies of it."

What are your thoughts on Dave Mackintosh leaving to join DRAGONFORCE?

"Well you know, Dave, he... Dave was never truly happy in BAL-SAGOTH. He wasn't really from an Extreme Metal background; his background was always that kind of stuff - the Power Metal stuff, the more listenable material. And he was in DRAGONFORCE and this band simultaneously for awhile, but he always wanted to play more shows and he always got really kind of like... mad that we weren't playing enough shows and of course, DRAGONFORCE they're pretty much always out there playing somewhere and that suited him a lot more, so essentially, DRAGONFORCE was a much more suitable band for him, we thought. There were no really bad feelings when he left, you know; he made his decision to join them and we've got... well, actually, we've got two drummers that are available to us at the moment. We've got Dan Mullins, who actually did the drums on the new album, we've also got Paul Jackson, otherwise known as Whack, who plays for a Sheffield band called EXTREME MAGGOT INFESTATION, and he's actually the drummer we brought here today, because Dan's passport expired and couldn't get renewed in time. So yeah, it's cool that Dave left. You know, we're pleased with the drumming situation now."

How did you come to be endorsed by Battle Orders Ltd.?

"That was just an idea that I had. You know, I was looking for kind of endorsement or sponsorship deals that I thought would be different from the usual cymbals, guitars, that kind of thing, and I figured like something that would suit the band and like really, sort of reflect the essence of the band... would be like a weapon sponsorship. So the label, at the time, Cacophonous, contacted several of these companies and Battle Orders, pretty much the first one that was contacted, was interested, so they provided me with quite a few swords and helmets and axes and stuff, and we promoted them and it's... I mean, the deal, it's run it's course now, but it was pretty cool at the time. We still get all their stuff, too."

What are your thoughts on people who find the band too cheesy and over the top for their tastes and just find the desire to just slag on the band for that reason?

"It's always something that does tend to amuse us, really. We don't tend to really listen to that kind of negative criticism because we've always said that the kind of people that are into this band are imaginative people, they... you know, our stuff is so multi-textured, multi-layered and there's so many different elements in it, you can listen to it on a sort of superficial level or you can like delve deeper into the material and get more out of it. It's not sort of the kind of stuff that you can just maybe put on casually and get anything out of it much, and maybe that's sort of like a part of the problem with a lot of people, but we know the people that kind of slag us for being cheesy and stuff, you know, they just need to sort of like take things less seriously. This band's inspired by pulp Fantasy and fiction of the 1930's; it's comic books, it's cartoons, it's all kinds of things like that; it's mythologies, Battlestar Galactica meets Raiders of the Lost Ark, all that kind of stuff. So if it's too cheesy for some people, that's fair enough - they don't have to listen to it."

Going back to the early days of the band, are there any plans for a reissue of the 1993 demo?

"Not as such, no. I mean, we did remaster it a few years ago. It was never finished, you know - we never got to finish some of the vocal parts and some of the keyboard parts and so... maybe at some point we might reissue it, maybe add a few little bits and pieces to it here and there, but... it's out there on the sort of like trading circuit and like, I'm thinking maybe we'll possibly release it at some point, sort of in a package... probably an independent release, not go through a label."

Why was the first album shelved for as long as it was?

"Well it was like we recorded it in the Summer of '94 and Cacophonous didn't actually release it until about April of '95. Part of that was due to the fact that they were having some kind of problems, I think, with some of the other bands on their label, I think CRADLE OF FILTH was one of them, and it took us a long time to get the album cover worked out as well, 'cause I was like talking to different artists about the album cover and I couldn't get the artist to do an album cover in time, so eventually it was turned over to Cacophonous' in-house graphics department to do the cover. And basically, at that point they were a very small label, limited resources and all that kind of thing and I think they were just looking for the right launch window for it and stuff. A year is a pretty long time, but, you know, eventually they released it."

Last question - what would be your favorite album cover?

"Favorite album cover of all time... of ours or any band?"

Yours.

"Yours, right... uh... it's kind of a toss-up maybe between 'Starfire Burning' and the new one, basically. Probably go for the new one, because that's the purest kind of representation of what the essence of the album is, which is basically the ancient kind of grimoire, 'The Chthonic Chronicles', so probably I'll say the new one."

Is there anything else you'd like to add?

"Just thanks to everyone who's supported us over the years and we really appreciate it, so hope to see people soon. Hope to get back over here at some point as well." [FIN]