Balaam And The Angels – ‘Forces Of Evil’ (Darklands Recordings)

Balaam And The Angels – ‘Forces Of Evil’ (Darklands Recordings)

Balaam And The Angel Celebrate its 40th Anniversary With the Release Of Brand New Material the first new material in over 30 years. The three brothers who grew up on a council estate in Cannock played music together as teenagers and finally formed Balaam And The Angel in the early 80’s inspired by the scene that was developing around Bauhaus, The Sisters Of Mercy, Southern Death Cult, Theatre Of Hate etc.

The band achieved success in the 80s signing to Virgin Records for their debut album ‘The Greatest Story Ever Told’, and touring the world with the likes of The Mission, Kiss, The Cult, Aerosmith and Iggy Pop until the release of their last album ‘Prime Time’ in 1993. So the sands of time have passed but on first play the band sound energised and with a great production ‘Forces Of Evil’ sounds like time stood still and the years away have been good to the trio. The release sees almost to the day the band’s first 4 track EP World Of Light (released in Nov 1984) bookended nicely.

The four tracks on the EP have been written by the band and show a more developed approach to the lyrical content which embraces some of the bands more common themes about how we navigate our daily lives alongside some more provocative themes such as mental health and the contradiction between religious belief vs religious intolerance and the way in which this are used as one of the reasons for the persecution of others. Only coming out on Vinyl sees the band return to how it all began and opening song ‘Dancing Senseless’ there is an urgency and power to the riff that carries the song. Some might say classic Balaam sound that embraces their darker roots.

I guess my only complaint is it’s only a four-track EP and after such a lengthy gap and being greedy I’d have loved to have heard maybe ten tracks on an album but I guess that can wait.

The title track begins with some sci-fi glitches before the drums kick in with a thumping bassline signalling goths everywhere to get out the Petulia oil and start making those shapes whilst the dry ice wafts through the speakers and a really epic journey begins. Only the final track ‘After Life’ offers something more moody and darker with the synth pulse making way for the piano to chime in. To be fair its classic Balaam folks and that’s a good thing. It’s been a while but its a most welcome return and four really good songs that add to the band’s catalogue and hopefully open a new chapter that will bring in more songs and more live shows. Its good to have you back gents this will more than do for starters.

Pre-order the EP HERE on 12-inch vinyl 

Author: Dom Daley

Catch Balaam And The Angel live at the following dates in November:

Fri 8th Nov: Leamington Spa Assembly Hall

Sat 9th Nov: Reading Face Bar

Thurs 14th Nov: London Islington The Garage

Thurs 21st Nov: Glasgow Room 2

Fri 22nd Nov: Sheffield Network

Sat 23rd Nov: Hull The New Adelphi

Thurs 28th Nov: Birmingham Castle And Falcon

Fri 29th Nov: Bedford Esquires

Balaam And The Angels – Thats Not The Real World (Chapter 22)

Balaam And The Angels – Thats Not The Real World (Chapter 22)

Goth rock from the 80s plays London show for the first time in God knows how long and get all the balding former Goths out in force to pull shapes and sing their hearts out and remember what it was like in the good old days. Uh, nope not really to be fair to the brothers Morris.  Recorded almost twelve months ago this mammoth seventeen song set brings back memories for sure but boy do these songs sound just as good today as they did back in their heyday. Recorded back at the end of 2018 in the Islington Academy shows the strength of the band’s catalogue to fill a decent-sized venue

‘Sun Family’ that pulled in the first singles and EPs and ‘The Greatest Story Never Told’ (the first album proper) and ‘Live Free Or Die’ are the focus of this set and are well represented to be fair and a decent spread throughout the set although the band have played sets of the first two albums complete side by side but here that’s not the case and a good flow is captured.  It is awesome to hear ‘I Believe’ amongst the likes of the more atmospheric ‘She Knows’ whilst the harder rockers such as ‘Long Time Loving You’ from the Live Free album reminds me of the classic ‘Alright Now’ riff and I’m pretty sure Balaam and the likes of The Cult and The Mission were all listening to similar records around the time so it makes sense I guess but that’s not taking anything away from ‘Long Time Loving You’ because it sounds great . The band sound well-rehearsed and tight.

The sprightly ‘Slow Down’ reminds me a little of The Teardrop Explodes if they were more of a rock band. I always loved Des Morris’ rhythms it was very tribal and created an atmosphere that complemented what the rest of the band were doing.  ‘Light Of The World’ being a great example he could have just thumped out the rhythm but there’s more going on than that.

I’m torn as to what my favourite Balaam album was and after listening to this Live album I’m leaning towards the ‘Live Fast’ era it was more in line with a lot of what I was listening to at the time and its stood the tests of time really well. ‘Would I Die For You’ sounds excellent and to follow it up with a rousing ‘Big City Fun Time Girl’ followed by ‘Love The Things’ then ‘I’ll Show You Something Special’ rockin’ out before the finale of a stunning rendition of ‘Isabella’s Eyes’ and then they’re done.  It’s a great snapshot of a band playing songs that are over thirty years old and making them as relevant today as they were when they first hit the airwaves.

If you’ve not got those records anymore and want to rediscover your youth or you want to know what goth rock sounded like or you just want to impress your friends with a cracking live album (sure it’s still a thing) then ‘That’s Not The Real World’ is the real deal. Get yourself some Balaam And The Angels in 2019 it very good indeed.

Facebook

Website 

Author: Dom Daley