Feeding Frenzy: Ba’al – The Fine Line Between Heaven and Here

Ba’al – The Fine Line Between Heaven and Here

Release date: 18th July 2025||Genre: Progressive black/doom metal|| Label: Road To Masochist

South Yorkshire prog extremists return with their second platter of metal connoisseur indulgence.

In the beginning, this album leans on a sweeping layered build up, akin to The Ocean or Isis, encompassing the first three or four minutes of track one. This simplicity turns out to be somewhat of a feint, however. Majestically progressive black metal takes the helm after this initial movement, before dipping further into intricately soothing post metal. This is a band who like to mess with your expectations. Not even onto the second song, and they have created their own microcosm of artistic metal. Obviously, this requires a good bit of time dedicated to each number, so don’t be fooled by the 6 entry tracklisting. The Fine Line Between Heaven and Here isn’t an EP. Hell, it might even be an entity, rather than an album! The songs are designed to transition smoothly, as one spiraling piece, so a proper listen might require a vinyl purchase. That first little digital hiccup between tracks noticeably detracts from the intended result. Neither black metal or post doom, the album pulls the ropes of both, dragging them into a slowly churning maelstrom. Slathering all in their own concoction of prog, and unimpeded by genre restrictions of any of the three, Ba’al have dredged up something special. Only the second full-length from this Sheffield based troupe, The Fine Line Between… is a sneaky little masterpiece, as beautiful as it is ferocious, and I hope the metal world picks up on this soon. Followers of Opeth, Rivers of Nihil, late Gojira, and more extreme variations, take this as a recommendation for something new.

A+

Slow Dragon