Bryan reacts to and talks about his thoughts on Be'lakor - Countless Skies ORIGINAL VIDEO // • Be'lakor - Countless S... ALL LINKS // linktr.ee/crit...
Interesting criticism that I totally disagree with. To me Be'Lakor is one of the very very rare bands that manage to compare to Opeth in composition, tone together with atmosphere, fun ideas and production all at once. I have no idea how the melodic ideas don't connect well or how the song isn't cohesive. Tho I am not a composer and I don't know enough to really argue here. It is just that from a standpoint of a normal listener, belakor is the best of the best. Also, not all metal is aiming for the very low tones at all. In the community, heavy metal, thrash metal, melodeath, black metal, power metal and others are still incredibly prevalent genres. If you regularly check out banger tv's metal monthly or their album reviews, you will see the variety in sound that surprises you here. At least from my perspective. But I have to thank you for being very honest and construcive with your criticisms. You are one of the very rare reactors who actually criticise anything at all and not just praise. I learn a lot, thank you.
YES. I've heard comparisons to an In Flames, Insomnium, and others. But they remind me so much of a true melo-death version of Opeth without the prog or clean vocal parts. I think it's mostly from a musicianship standpoint, I have sworn that Opeth is one of, if not, the tightest band in my own opinion I've heard and probably best as far as ability to nail transitions. These guys have got it. Be'lakor is magnificently tight in that regard as well. Countless Skies is just the perfect example. I mean the song is full of transitions, you never know what is coming next and that outro is a travel through all time and space. It's fucking interdimensional. It's so long but it still leaves you dying for more.
Repetition is something that Be'lakor use with quite a bit of creativity imo, since they change melodies around or the rhytmical context to make it less tiring. But that being said, if you aren't a big fan of that, I believe that their later stuff will be more of your liking. Locus and The Smoke of Many Fires are two songs I totally recommend. Longer and rich in ideas, to the point many think that they can be a bit jarring to listen to, and the production is really beefy
Loved when they brought the piano out to the forefront, and just great melodies all around. The repeating structural patterns you noticed didn't really bother me just because everything was so pleasant to listen to. But I agree in wishing the bass was more audible.
Hey - thank you for this Be'lakor reaction video! This is Steve (piano/synths) from Be'lakor. It's always great to hear different perspectives on our music. If you're ever interested in doing a reaction video to Secludja (my side-project), that would be really cool. It's not metal, but I'd be really interested to see what you think!
Thanks for dropping by. And yeah, I'd love to give Secludja a listen. While metal is what this community tends to keep me around, I'm always down to check out all kinds of genres. I know it's a bit far off but I've scheduled you in for Dec 16th. Which song would you like me to check out? And this decision doesn't have to be final either. I see you're still releasing stuff so feel free to leave this question unanswered until closer to the date. You can always contact me at criticalreactions (at) pm (dot) me about this stuff as well.
first melodeath is melodic death metal, just like techdeath is technical death metal its just a shorthand second be'lakor are petty cool, i really dug the first three cd's (this is from the 2nd), whenever you revisit them i'd recommend "The Desolation of Ares" it has a really nice build up and release that i personally appreciate in a song
You 100% should listen to their new album ‘Coherence’ just released. The production is night and days apart from this older album, They absolutely nailed it!
This was their second record that broke them into a wider audience, but yes the production was not completely there yet. I think they nailed it on the follow-ups. As for the song, you might want to take another shot at it later :)
If u dont like vocals try it again with the lyrics in front of you and knowing its not a human singing to you. He sings the song of a very old celestial being. The voice suits the character singing very well. I love this song and The Embers Arc by them
Melodic death metal and melodeath mean the same thing, and Be'lakor is definitely that. The main confusion with this genre is that it tends to have a particular sound so not every death metal band with melody fits in there. It's kind of like how people don't consider Tool math rock even though they used the Fibonacci sequence for that song. It's not a math rock song just because they use math, the genre has a particular sound.
Like Opeth.. or Edge of Sanity. They both dabble in melodic death, but also are more dominantly prog death metal, esp Opeth.. so that's their main genre they are considered to be. Many bands have many influences, and that's even on a member to member basis. That said, Belakor, though extremely versatile and a blend of many genres and styles.. are definitely melo-death. That is the strongest and most consistent feature. And they are a hell of a band at it, at that, especially being from Australia to nail the melo-death sound on that level and make it their own at the same time is ultra impressive
Be'lakor definitely specialize in outros and really know how to make amazing melodies, but they're by no means a perfect band. Their riffs have little variety for their duration and they're very structured and tame overall. But despite these issues holding them back a bit which could be improved on by adding some more diverse influences, they've still managed to produce some absolutely amazing material.
This song is epic, definitely one of my favorites by them. I recommend "First fragment - In'el" for some high quality tech death with many memorable bass parts.
Love to see you react to BeLakor (who just released a new album last week!) and Cult of Luna aswell. For more Sludge I can only recommend a lesser known band: Sunnata - Outlands (song)
I love Be'lakor. One of my favorite bands because of their melodies, composition and overall amazing writing capabilities. And the riffs! Idk how anyone doesnt enjoy this band haha.
I can heavily recommend the track Valence or Hidden Window from their new album released a few days ago. The album is a lot more prog and their mixing has gotten much better, same with their riff writing imo. The album is already my favourite album of all time. I must have listened to Valence 100 times by now since it dropped on the 28th.
And yeah melodic death metal sounds way different than regular death metal haha. It's a lot catchier and while I don't really hear the "radio friendly" stuff in this song, I can definitely hear it in the popular melodeath bands like In Flames or Children Of Bodom.
Maybe it serves me that I don't know about music: He called this radio rock with a primitive 90's sound, and the transion frequency high enough to be called hyperactive, leading to a feeling of same-DNA/structure progressions patched up without connection/cohesion. He said the music lacked dynamics and counterpoint, rendering a poorer soundscape that's without rich contrasting melodies and texture. He said the intro is genericky(my god). He also said without the brutal vocals, the music is almost bright. That the mixing could be better and bass got lost in it. That they have strong foundation etc. That despite all this the music doesn't feel disjointed because the different sections aren't that different structurally(same DNA thing) but because of that the sound suffers homogeny. He also said pianos and melodic lines were gorgeous for a treble based song and helped to build atmosphere, that they are good at unique time feeling, gallops, and shifting between different time signatures. That the drums were great. I can hear some of the transition thing and lacking dynamics, etc. And yet, it's doesn't sound monotonous/colorless/one dimensional to me like it seems to sound to him. I don't find myself outside the song's world as I'm listening to it. It's not only the superimposition of contrasting elements out of which depth arises that matters to a song, in my opinion. This one is more like a single thing that gets richer as it progresses, not via contrasting elements but via the linear build, which is why I don't think that it's radio rock at all, or that the beginning is generic or that transitions lack as much in cohesion. The build speaks to me despite the soundscape not having contrasting elements. That'd be impossible if transitions sounded disjointed to my ears. There's one specific riff where I felt that might be the case but then I tried to imagine if I'd get the same feeling from what follows were it not for that riff (the muted dA-da-dA-da da-dA-da-dAduh part before that glorious "purpose lost to frailty" part. 4:52) So if I knew music like this composer did, I would perhaps be unable to enjoy it due to my enjoyment getting interrupted with thoughts on how this or that part could be better if this or that was done. So I upvoted this one, then removed it as I heard him speak and then gave it back again. Because this is an honest review, not pandering to anyone's wishes, and there's honesty in paying this kind of attention to the song too. I'm always going to love Be'lakor, but such honesty is hard to come by and if it weren't for that, this world would have been much worse than it already is. tl, dr: Sincere thanks to the composer TH-camr for the honest review and effort.
Same yo. Super same. That whole outro is just a mega flex of their musicianship and ability to make one hell of an exit. One of the best ending tracks in my personal opinion, it's so well fit and executed there
You are true for your channel name! Critic view but interesting. I know Be´lakor will get you eventually(if you listen any of their albums 3 times a row) It is best band of Planet earth but songs are so complex and vocals take little time to get used to. But when you finally hear vocals as one more instrument you will be hooked for lifetime!
Be'lakor is one band I missed back when I was exploring melodic death metal. This was definitely a solid track. Nice riffing and leads, good usage of the piano for added texture, nice pacing... I think it's just missing a certain "wow" factor, which is a common criticism I have of bands in the genre, and compared to a band like Dark Tranquility I also don't think it's quite as catchy. If I ever get back in the mood to explore more melodic DM they'll be at the top of my list of bands to check out.
You shoukd check Swallow the sun -the new moon, Be'lakor-Venator which is in this album and if you didnt already go for Ne Obliviscaris either Forget Not or And Plague Flowers of the Kadeilescope
Melodic death metal has not adopted the 8-stringed down tuned Meshuggah like sound you hear in metal today. This is has more of the Gothenburg sound and not like the classic death metal sound which often is heavier. I like the vocals but more so on their newer abums. I think this band is fantastic in everyway, especially how they switches the tempos with fast guitar riffs after a while in their songs :D
Awesome channel. Just saw you already checked out deathspell omega and ad nauseam. Loving your analysis ad nauseam first album is way more catchy and i guess would be easier to digest on the first listen. Their second one is as rewarding as complex And deathspell omega has the sacred triology, worth checking out and all the rest afterwards
You should check out deathspell omega, ulcerate or ad nauseam from Italy. They use very interesting rhythm methods to make you dissociated from time, among other intruiging death/black mash ups
On the one hand --- well played👏. On the other hand, I thought folks usually dropped BTBAM in the prog metal or prog metalcore bucket, rather than death metal?
It all comes down to budget, the mix needs a pro to really hear and put certain instruments more forward so you can bloody hear them I hate how nearly every band puts the bass in the back and it sounds so good more forward,This is a band that needs an acquired taste
![[TH] 2024 PMSL SEA Finals D1 | Fall | ยิงต้องโหด ให้เหมือนโกรธกันมาก่อน](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/OnTdfGySmds/mqdefault.jpg)
Interesting criticism that I totally disagree with. To me Be'Lakor is one of the very very rare bands that manage to compare to Opeth in composition, tone together with atmosphere, fun ideas and production all at once. I have no idea how the melodic ideas don't connect well or how the song isn't cohesive. Tho I am not a composer and I don't know enough to really argue here. It is just that from a standpoint of a normal listener, belakor is the best of the best.
Also, not all metal is aiming for the very low tones at all. In the community, heavy metal, thrash metal, melodeath, black metal, power metal and others are still incredibly prevalent genres. If you regularly check out banger tv's metal monthly or their album reviews, you will see the variety in sound that surprises you here. At least from my perspective.
But I have to thank you for being very honest and construcive with your criticisms. You are one of the very rare reactors who actually criticise anything at all and not just praise. I learn a lot, thank you.
YES. I've heard comparisons to an In Flames, Insomnium, and others. But they remind me so much of a true melo-death version of Opeth without the prog or clean vocal parts. I think it's mostly from a musicianship standpoint, I have sworn that Opeth is one of, if not, the tightest band in my own opinion I've heard and probably best as far as ability to nail transitions. These guys have got it. Be'lakor is magnificently tight in that regard as well. Countless Skies is just the perfect example. I mean the song is full of transitions, you never know what is coming next and that outro is a travel through all time and space. It's fucking interdimensional. It's so long but it still leaves you dying for more.
Be'Lakor is one of my favorite bands I love them so much
yes finally! One of my all time favourite bands
It's good to see you finally discovering Be'lakor, Hopefully you check more of their newer songs in the future
Repetition is something that Be'lakor use with quite a bit of creativity imo, since they change melodies around or the rhytmical context to make it less tiring. But that being said, if you aren't a big fan of that, I believe that their later stuff will be more of your liking. Locus and The Smoke of Many Fires are two songs I totally recommend. Longer and rich in ideas, to the point many think that they can be a bit jarring to listen to, and the production is really beefy
Loved when they brought the piano out to the forefront, and just great melodies all around. The repeating structural patterns you noticed didn't really bother me just because everything was so pleasant to listen to. But I agree in wishing the bass was more audible.
They have so good melodies..........
Hey - thank you for this Be'lakor reaction video! This is Steve (piano/synths) from Be'lakor. It's always great to hear different perspectives on our music. If you're ever interested in doing a reaction video to Secludja (my side-project), that would be really cool. It's not metal, but I'd be really interested to see what you think!
Thanks for dropping by. And yeah, I'd love to give Secludja a listen. While metal is what this community tends to keep me around, I'm always down to check out all kinds of genres. I know it's a bit far off but I've scheduled you in for Dec 16th. Which song would you like me to check out? And this decision doesn't have to be final either. I see you're still releasing stuff so feel free to leave this question unanswered until closer to the date. You can always contact me at criticalreactions (at) pm (dot) me about this stuff as well.
@@CriticalReactions Thanks, that's awesome. I think a nice song for this would be "Yield". I look forward to it - cheers again!
first melodeath is melodic death metal, just like techdeath is technical death metal its just a shorthand
second be'lakor are petty cool, i really dug the first three cd's (this is from the 2nd), whenever you revisit them i'd recommend "The Desolation of Ares" it has a really nice build up and release that i personally appreciate in a song
Vessels has really grown on me, but stones reach is my favourie... and desolation of ares is one of my favourite song
Yup, but I wouldn't call these guys Melodeath. They're more progy, compared most Me;lpdeath bands...
@@shapeshifter7676 theres loads of progressive melodic death metal... no such thing as "most" melodeath bands cause the genre is extremely varied
You 100% should listen to their new album ‘Coherence’ just released. The production is night and days apart from this older album, They absolutely nailed it!
Literally ANY of their songs.
This was their second record that broke them into a wider audience, but yes the production was not completely there yet. I think they nailed it on the follow-ups. As for the song, you might want to take another shot at it later :)
Now I want to hear the song with counter point melodies. Would love to see more Be'lakor reactions!
It's just your first time listening to this song. It's cohesive, you just need to repeat it and exploring through the lyrics. It will grow on you.
If u dont like vocals try it again with the lyrics in front of you and knowing its not a human singing to you. He sings the song of a very old celestial being. The voice suits the character singing very well. I love this song and The Embers Arc by them
Melodic death metal and melodeath mean the same thing, and Be'lakor is definitely that. The main confusion with this genre is that it tends to have a particular sound so not every death metal band with melody fits in there. It's kind of like how people don't consider Tool math rock even though they used the Fibonacci sequence for that song. It's not a math rock song just because they use math, the genre has a particular sound.
Like Opeth.. or Edge of Sanity. They both dabble in melodic death, but also are more dominantly prog death metal, esp Opeth.. so that's their main genre they are considered to be.
Many bands have many influences, and that's even on a member to member basis. That said, Belakor, though extremely versatile and a blend of many genres and styles.. are definitely melo-death. That is the strongest and most consistent feature. And they are a hell of a band at it, at that, especially being from Australia to nail the melo-death sound on that level and make it their own at the same time is ultra impressive
I really recommend checking out their album 'Vessels', it's got my favourite songs by them. Ember's Arc and The Smoke of Many Fires are so good!
Be'lakor definitely specialize in outros and really know how to make amazing melodies, but they're by no means a perfect band. Their riffs have little variety for their duration and they're very structured and tame overall. But despite these issues holding them back a bit which could be improved on by adding some more diverse influences, they've still managed to produce some absolutely amazing material.
This song is epic, definitely one of my favorites by them. I recommend "First fragment - In'el" for some high quality tech death with many memorable bass parts.
So glad to hear this here, masterpiece song from one of the best bands on the planet. Good stuff man.
To me this song has one if the most epic outros in heavy metal history. I have forgotten how beautiful this song is.
Be'lakor is just downright fucking amazing. Any song, on any album. Absolutely brilliant, every single time.
My fav band.
One of the best bands on the planet, every song from them is great to masterpiece level.
I love 😍
Love to see you react to BeLakor (who just released a new album last week!) and Cult of Luna aswell.
For more Sludge I can only recommend a lesser known band: Sunnata - Outlands (song)
I love Be'lakor. One of my favorite bands because of their melodies, composition and overall amazing writing capabilities. And the riffs! Idk how anyone doesnt enjoy this band haha.
I can heavily recommend the track Valence or Hidden Window from their new album released a few days ago. The album is a lot more prog and their mixing has gotten much better, same with their riff writing imo. The album is already my favourite album of all time. I must have listened to Valence 100 times by now since it dropped on the 28th.
Both of those are awesome especially valence, locus was my favorite from the new album personally, whole album is great tho.
So much from new Dark Tranquillity style there... Not so unusual but still sooooo fucking great
Well there... thank you Sir for the reaction. I was waiting for this for a long, long time!
And yeah melodic death metal sounds way different than regular death metal haha. It's a lot catchier and while I don't really hear the "radio friendly" stuff in this song, I can definitely hear it in the popular melodeath bands like In Flames or Children Of Bodom.
Maybe it serves me that I don't know about music: He called this radio rock with a primitive 90's sound, and the transion frequency high enough to be called hyperactive, leading to a feeling of same-DNA/structure progressions patched up without connection/cohesion. He said the music lacked dynamics and counterpoint, rendering a poorer soundscape that's without rich contrasting melodies and texture.
He said the intro is genericky(my god). He also said without the brutal vocals, the music is almost bright. That the mixing could be better and bass got lost in it. That they have strong foundation etc.
That despite all this the music doesn't feel disjointed because the different sections aren't that different structurally(same DNA thing) but because of that the sound suffers homogeny.
He also said pianos and melodic lines were gorgeous for a treble based song and helped to build atmosphere, that they are good at unique time feeling, gallops, and shifting between different time signatures. That the drums were great.
I can hear some of the transition thing and lacking dynamics, etc. And yet, it's doesn't sound monotonous/colorless/one dimensional to me like it seems to sound to him. I don't find myself outside the song's world as I'm listening to it. It's not only the superimposition of contrasting elements out of which depth arises that matters to a song, in my opinion. This one is more like a single thing that gets richer as it progresses, not via contrasting elements but via the linear build, which is why I don't think that it's radio rock at all, or that the beginning is generic or that transitions lack as much in cohesion. The build speaks to me despite the soundscape not having contrasting elements. That'd be impossible if transitions sounded disjointed to my ears. There's one specific riff where I felt that might be the case but then I tried to imagine if I'd get the same feeling from what follows were it not for that riff (the muted dA-da-dA-da da-dA-da-dAduh part before that glorious "purpose lost to frailty" part. 4:52)
So if I knew music like this composer did, I would perhaps be unable to enjoy it due to my enjoyment getting interrupted with thoughts on how this or that part could be better if this or that was done.
So I upvoted this one, then removed it as I heard him speak and then gave it back again. Because this is an honest review, not pandering to anyone's wishes, and there's honesty in paying this kind of attention to the song too. I'm always going to love Be'lakor, but such honesty is hard to come by and if it weren't for that, this world would have been much worse than it already is.
tl, dr: Sincere thanks to the composer TH-camr for the honest review and effort.
8:57 Get the goosebumps every time
Same yo. Super same. That whole outro is just a mega flex of their musicianship and ability to make one hell of an exit. One of the best ending tracks in my personal opinion, it's so well fit and executed there
I wanted you to react this band for so long. please do some of their new stuff and some of their old stuff.
You are true for your channel name!
Critic view but interesting.
I know Be´lakor will get you eventually(if you listen any of their albums 3 times a row) It is best band of Planet earth but songs are so complex and vocals take little time to get used to.
But when you finally hear vocals as one more instrument you will be hooked for lifetime!
Be'lakor is one band I missed back when I was exploring melodic death metal. This was definitely a solid track. Nice riffing and leads, good usage of the piano for added texture, nice pacing... I think it's just missing a certain "wow" factor, which is a common criticism I have of bands in the genre, and compared to a band like Dark Tranquility I also don't think it's quite as catchy. If I ever get back in the mood to explore more melodic DM they'll be at the top of my list of bands to check out.
You shoukd check Swallow the sun -the new moon, Be'lakor-Venator which is in this album and if you didnt already go for Ne Obliviscaris either Forget Not or And Plague Flowers of the Kadeilescope
Definitely one of my favorite Be'lakor songs ... I would recommend any song from the new album ... a lot more progressive than their previous albums
React to Valence from their brand new album!
Check out their new record, it came out last Friday :D
Please listen to Belakor - Venator
Please do the newest album
I going to name my fictional band "Spooky Orange" (Insert praying hands to imply a thank you)
Melodic death metal has not adopted the 8-stringed down tuned Meshuggah like sound you hear in metal today. This is has more of the Gothenburg sound and not like the classic death metal sound which often is heavier. I like the vocals but more so on their newer abums. I think this band is fantastic in everyway, especially how they switches the tempos with fast guitar riffs after a while in their songs :D
Awesome channel. Just saw you already checked out deathspell omega and ad nauseam. Loving your analysis
ad nauseam first album is way more catchy and i guess would be easier to digest on the first listen. Their second one is as rewarding as complex
And deathspell omega has the sacred triology, worth checking out and all the rest afterwards
A great album, this song is such a good way to end it
I like your structural viewpoint
You should check out deathspell omega, ulcerate or ad nauseam from Italy. They use very interesting rhythm methods to make you dissociated from time, among other intruiging death/black mash ups
And also thy darkened shade from greece. Seriously devoted "acausal necrosophic" technical occult thrash/black metal. They are one of my dearest
I've heard all three of those bands! I remember enjoying DsO and I think I liked Ad Nauseam but I don't remember the Ulcerate song.
@@CriticalReactions it was stare into death and be still by Ulcerate. You liked that one as well haha. Cheers man keep it up
I've requested it a million times
The Between the Buried and Me of death metal would be.... Between the Buried and Me 😁
On the one hand --- well played👏. On the other hand, I thought folks usually dropped BTBAM in the prog metal or prog metalcore bucket, rather than death metal?
@@articircle i've always called them progressive death metal
@@ShadowFlame420 Ok, I stand corrected
@@articircle Nah I agree BTBAM is not death metal.
It all comes down to budget, the mix needs a pro to really hear and put certain instruments more forward so you can bloody hear them I hate how nearly every band puts the bass in the back and it sounds so good more forward,This is a band that needs an acquired taste
Forget what I said. Do every song by them.
Vekto recharging the void 2
I second this
Seriously... thy darkened shade.. dont miss out
Beauty in brutality.
Lol
More Be’lakor!
Mooooooaaaaaaarrrrrrggggghhhhh!