22nd April 2020

Under the Influence #43: Nephylim on “Of Breath and Bone’ by Be’lakor!

Using a copy of Gabriel Ferrier’s ‘Chaperon Rouge‘, depicting the instantly recognisable tale of Little Red Riding Hood, with a girl standing beside a Wolf bearing its teeth that has that mild threat to it makes for a fitting cover for any Melodic Death Metal album. It was chosen by Australian quintet Be’lakor, to grace “Of Breath and Bone”, their 2012 third studio album. Recorded at Pennydrop Audio in Melbourne Australia, the critically acclaimed affair has rousing riffs and gripping dynamics that hold on and simply don’t let go. Progressive influences are just beneath the surface and that is evident in the elongated instrumental sections that permiate each song with seamless transition phases and complex textures.

Nephylim comment: “When Metal Noise asked us to write about one album which influenced us the most. However, how does someone pick just one album, meanwhile there are so many to choose. There are various brilliant releases which influenced us band-wise, but also individually. Releases like “The Beyond” and “New World Shadow” albums by Omnium Gatherum, “Singularity” by Enshine just to name a few. Nonetheless we agreed about one almost instantly: “Of Breath and Bone” by Be’lakor. For the majority of us this was one of the albums which granted us the passage to Melodic Death Metal, meanwhile the band itself is actually pretty exclusive within the genre. The clear recognizable intro of “Abeyance”, the distinctive “Be’lakor riffs” used in songs as “In Parting” and “Fraught” (and many more), the dynamic use of distorted and clean/acoustic guitars etc. It influenced Nephylim significantly without us even directly noticing it. The word which combines it all together is: uniqueness. This is perhaps the biggest principle which Be’lakor has taught us: try to be unique within the large “metal-pool”; try to create an unique product music-wise, appearance-wise etc. in such a way that people recognize you immediately.”