BattleDagorath

Battle Dagorath - "I - Dark Dragons Of The Cosmos" (Album Premiere)

Black metal is generally associated with barbarism, a warrior’s spirit. I never understood the connotation, but what first drew me into black metal was the genre’s polar opposite. Mysticism and esoteric sounds were my introduction – heavy keyboard presence and syrupy textures heralded by melodies which I could only consider “ancient.” I can’t help but feel this approach is lost on most newer bands, and so every year I return to the formative albums that dragged me from “casual” listener to fervent follower (here is a brief playlist for context). I feel like I refer to lots of albums as “rarities,” but the emotion international unit Battle Dagorath elicits from me is rare, or at least forgotten with time.

I used the word “mysticism” earlier, and I can’t think of a stronger word than mystical to describe Battle Dagorath’s music. Chief songwriter and founding member Black Sorcerer Battle’s songwriting draws from a spiritual vein – his music is monolithic and lumbers at an ancient pace. Even at its most resplendent and active, I – Dark Dragons Of The Cosmos is a slow awakening, with Battle Dagorath shaking layers of frost and stardust from their corporeal form. Though Black Sorcerer Battle’s songwriting is magnificent and awe-inspiring, Battle Dagorath’s main selling point, at least since Ancient Wrath (Cold Dimensions, 2011), was the inclusion of black metal legend Vinterriket on keyboards. It’s with these icy tones that the “mysticism” I love shines through, and Vinterriket’s efforts enshroud the Black Sorcerer’s music in a thick, icy haze. This constant, dense, cold atmosphere which is a powerful reminder of the seat of my initial black metal obsession – what set black metal apart from everything else. Battle Dagorath exudes a distinct spirituality – cold, ancient, and devout. It reignites my passion.

Battle Dagorath’s interstellar voyage becomes CD reality on September 30th thanks to the long-standing Avantgarde Music with a double LP edition to follow. Keep in mind this is Part I, with Part II to follow later this year. Scroll below for an exclusive first listen to the entire mammoth album.

From the artist:

After some silence Battle Dagorath now returns with their fourth full-length album, an inspirational and evocative Opus of eccentric Black Art entitled Dark Dragons of the Cosmos. The title refers to the serpent ouroboros of our own Milky Way galaxy. This cyclic journey is an ode to the serpent that resides in the black sky above us. The lyrics deal with the alchemic process of the cosmos and the cyclic nature of the ouroboros. Six royal symbols that echo the Omens of celestial and atmospheric phenomena and the cataclysmic order of the stars that manifests into our collective unconscious. The ouroboros represents this divine process, infinity and revealment. The transformation through the mirrors of time and space. “From the Black Sun’s Fire” refers to the eclipse of consciousness, It is the instance when light and dark reverse. The “black sun” or “Sol Niger” represents the dark destructive aspects of the sun and the first encounter with the dragon. In this first stage of the magnum opus, the undiscovered black sun is used to illuminate the dissolution of the body and the forms of our magical essence. In ancient times the cataclysmic forces of nature were personified as a great cosmic dragon or serpent. The sacred past is a story of a sacred dragon, the myth of the Eternal Return, of celestial battles between the dark and light. Dark Dragons Of The Cosmos is devotion and catharsis through worship of our ancient powers and magnetism.

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