Also known as The Scarlet Woman or The Great Mother, Babalon was first established in writings by occultist Aleister Crowley in 1904. Crowley himself was known as The Great Beast 666, and while the lady Babalon was held in high regard as a liberated and invigorating woman, she was also often described as ‘riding the beast’. You get the idea. She was held in high regard in more ways than one.
Over 100 years later, black metal band The Howling Wind has found a way to tell her story once again in the music and lyrics of their newest album, Of Babalon. Recorded by Colin Marston (Krallice, Dysrhythmia, Gorguts), the album starts with a slow, static build but quickly takes you to deep, down below to all things dark and unholy.
Set for a July 17th release, we will be streaming the album for one full week up until its release. It’s imperative you pick up your own copy, though, as we can’t let you hear the exclusive bonus track that comes with a purchase of the full record!
The Howling Wind – “The Seal Upon The Tomb”
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The Howling Wind – “Beast Of The Sea”
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The Howling Wind – “Graal”
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The Howling Wind – “Scaling The Walls”
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The Howling Wind – “The Mountain View”
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The Howling Wind – “Abominations and Filth”
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The Howling Wind – “Choronzon”
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The Howling Wind – “Gateways”
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PRE-ORDER OF BABALON
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This is more dense and a marked progression from Into The Cryopshere. I definitely want this.
Me too. Who did the cover art for this?
Just wanted to point out that [as of right now] the song listing isn’t correct. There is no song called “Ride the Lightning” [haha!], that should be
“Abominations and Filth” and the song that is labelled “Abominations..” is called “The Mountain View”.
Tony Roberts did the cover. http://www.blackmindseye.org/
This would work well in the “diehard edition” alternate track listing, haha
Thanks for the link. It would have been pretty ballsy of you to name a song “Ride the Lightning.”
Hot damn, that’s every bit as good as I hoped it would be. Definitely going to pick up a copy next week. I wish Profound Lore would go back to selling through Bandcamp…
Seconded on that. I sent an e-mail a couple of months back asking about another Profound Lore release and if it would be on Bandcamp, and I got a very grumpy reply about how it’s a pain to upload the files to Bandcamp he didn’t like it slowing down his computer, etc. It was a little off putting.
I don’t believe it’s accurate to say that Babalon was “first established” by Crowley, given her presence in the book of Revelations.
Babalon is distinct from Babylon the city, and the Whore of Babylon, though clearly drawn from both. As a deity, Crowley drew Babalon from Ishtar, Innanna, and the biblical reference to Babylon as the Mother of Harlots. It’s all connected, but Crowley did create this particular incarnation and establish her as a goddess within his system of Thelema.
How the fuck did you come to be editor, WIki sleuth?
Cannot wait for this sucker to arrive in the mail.
And Kelly Kettering finally manages to top “Asian-inspired retro-progressive style.” Shine on.
this record rules. really like how each album is different, but distinctly THW.
For some reason I wasn’t impressed with the song I had heard like a week ago (Gateways?)
But wow.. this is awesome. Above and beyond Cryosphere in every manner, and that is huge.
This album makes me slightly less sad that Unearthly Trance broke up. Good stuff.
one track in and felt compelled to post. did the solo in the last minute of “The Seal Upon the Tomb” blow anyone else away? Fuck me. Lypinsky has a real knack for raising riffs out of the pits of hell. Dude is totally underrated as a guitar player and purveyor of the riff.
This one was set to be a killer record and didn’t disappoint.
The Howling Wind of money flying out of my wallet to buy this. Rimshot.
I’m glad there was a full album stream. A single track might not have convinced me to buy it.