Bal-Sagoth

Bal-Sagoth are a symphonic black metal band from Sheffield, Yorkshire, England, formed in 1989. Originally formed as an epic/symphonic black metal band with strong death metal elements, vocalist/lyricist Byron Roberts took the name 'Bal-Sagoth' from the Robert E. Howard short story "The Gods of Bal-Sagoth". Their first demo was recorded in 1993, and Bal-Sagoth have since released three albums on Cacophonous Records, and three with Nuclear Blast. The band took their inspiration from writers and artists such as Robert E. Howard, H. P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, Edgar Rice Burroughs, J.R.R. Tolkien and Jack Kirby.

Links to Peel
In an interview with Lords Of Metal e-zine in 2006, vocalist Byron Roberts mentioned that Peel discovered the band, when he was in a record shop and saw one of their LP's and liked the cover and the song titles, despite not hearing the group before:

"'He was looking around in a record store and he saw 'Starfire…'. He had never heard from the band before, he never heard any of our stuff, he just picked it up because he liked the cover and the song titles sounded interesting. He loved it and he started to play it. As soon as we heard about that, I sent him all the other albums too. He really loved the band and became a big admirer of the band. And I was looking forward to send him a copy of the new one, unfortunately I cannot do that now cause he passed away. That's sad. He gave us a lot of support and played stuff from all the albums on BBC radio which was great.'"

Peel mentioned on his 06 February 2001 show hoping to get the band to do a session, although for unknown reasons, it was one of the Sessions That Never Happened.

Shows Played

 * Bal-Sagoth - And Io, When the Imperium Marches Against Gul-Kothoth
 * 06 February 2001: And Lo, When The Emperium Marches Against Kol-Kothoth Then Dark Sorceries Shall Enshroud The Citadel Of The Obsidian Crown (CD - Starfire Burning Upon The Ice-Veiled Throne Of Ultima Thule) Cacophonous
 * 28 February 2001: 'The Dark Liege of Chaos is Unleashed At The Ensorcelled Shrine of A'zura-Kai (The Splendour Of A Thousand Swords Gleaming Beneath The Blazon Of The Hyperborean Empire Part 2) (CD-Battle Magic)' (Cacophonous)
 * February 2001 (FSK): Behold, The Armies Of War Descend Screaming From The Heavens! (CD - The Power Cosmic) Nuclear Blast
 * 08 March 2001: Behold The Armies Of War Descend Screaming From The Heavens (CD - The Power Cosmic) Nuclear Blast
 * 21 March 2001: The Splendour of a Thousand Swords Gleaming Beneath The Blazon Of The Hyperborean Empire Part 3 (CD - Atlantis Ascendant) Nuclear Blast
 * 05 April 2001: Star-Maps Of The Ancient Cosmographers (album - Atlantis Ascendant) Nuclear Blast
 * 24 April 2001: The Dreamer In The Catacombs of Ur (CD: Atlantis Ascendent) Nuclear Blast