Byron Roberts
Encyclopedia
Byron Roberts, also known as Byron A. Roberts, is the vocalist/lyricist and founder of the British symphonic
extreme metal
band Bal-Sagoth
.
Originally hailing from Yorkshire
, England, and also holding full Canadian citizenship, due to many years spent living in Ontario
and Quebec
, Roberts graduated from Sheffield Hallam University
with an Honours Degree in English, writing his final year thesis on the genres of pulp fantasy, science fiction and horror, and more specifically the works of H.P. Lovecraft. Roberts originated the band's concept, and writes all the lyrics for Bal-Sagoth
, having performed the vocals on all six Bal-Sagoth albums to date as well as the band's 1993 demo.
circa 1989. For years, he had been seeking suitable musicians with whom he could collaborate to realize his grand vision of forming "a sublimely symphonic black/death metal band swathed in a concept of dark fantasy/science-fiction and ancient myths & legends." However, none of those he approached were willing to commit to the endeavour. In 1993, after several aborted attempts to launch the project, he was introduced to the musician Jonny Maudling
and his brother Chris Maudling, who were at that time jamming cover versions with their friends, and who were also looking to form a serious band. Rehearsals followed, and some months later, after a minor line-up reshuffle, the formal inception of Bal-Sagoth
took place. The band began composing songs, the ultimate result (now some seventeen years later) being a six album discography currently available from Cacophonous Records and Nuclear Blast
. For a more extensive account of the band and its releases, see Bal-Sagoth
.
, H. P. Lovecraft
, Edgar Rice Burroughs
, Frank Herbert
, J.R.R. Tolkien, Shakespeare, Arthur C. Clarke
, Clark Ashton Smith
, David Gemmell
, George Lucas
, Jack Kirby
and Stan Lee
, Roberts set out to create his own dark and baroque fantasy universe, with tales told through the medium of extreme metal albums.
He named the band Bal-Sagoth
in honour of one of his primary literary inspirations, the writer Robert E. Howard
, whose story "The Gods of Bal-Sagoth" had first appeared in the legendary pulp fantasy magazine Weird Tales
during the 1930s.
Sometimes dubbed "The Multiverse" and/or "The Omniverse", Roberts's lyrical world is an extensive landscape of fantasy/science fiction, ranging from intergalactic tales of rogue gods and cosmic empires, to historical epics and high adventures, to sword and sorcery style sagas. The stories of the lyrical world are all connected to a greater or lesser degree, and are roughly divided into several different eras. The first era is the "antediluvian" epoch, during which most of the sword & sorcery style stories take place. Tales occurring even earlier than this, such as when the planet Earth consisted of the megacontinent Pangaea
, are also usually grouped into this broad chronological categorization. Then there is an era covering recorded human history from ancient times to roughly the end of World War II, during which Roberts's historical stories occur. Thirdly there is a future era, which roughly dates from the year 2104 all the way to a timeframe many thousands of years in the future, and it is during this epoch that the science-fiction oriented stories take place. Key inspirations for the vast canon are arcane mythology, ancient history, legends, and the occult. The world of the lyrics is a vast place spanning countless millennia, and is chronicled in Roberts's forthcoming A-Z Glossary Mk. II, dubbed simply "The Lexicon".
Byron Roberts creates all the concepts, storylines, characters, places and lyrics for Bal-Sagoth
. He also designed the band logo, the album cover concepts, and all the booklet layouts.
.
screams with a pitched-down "narrator's" voice, enabling him to relay story elements in a clear and compelling manner, present dialogue between characters, and imbue the vocals with a "light and dark" contrasting feel. Roberts's primary musical inspirations are bands such as Bathory
, Celtic Frost
, Deicide
, Morbid Angel
, Sabbat
, Slayer
, et al.
Byron Roberts also contributed guest vocals to the "Dominion" demo from death metal
band Blasphemer, and to the "Halcyon" EP from the doom metal
band Solstice
.
In addition to his writing and musical pursuits, Byron Roberts also has an extensive history of experience in medieval battle reenactment societies. Some of the groups of which he has been a member include "Knights In Battle Medieval Society (13th century)", "The Company of the Hawk (15th century)", "The Howards (15th century)", "The Burgundians (15th century)", "The Warhird of Thorr Yngvisson (Dark Ages)", and "Regia Anglorum
(Dark Ages)".
Symphonic metal
Symphonic metal is a term used to describe heavy metal music that has symphonic elements; that is, elements that are either borrowed from classical music or, as with progressive rock music, create a style reminiscent of it, e.g...
extreme metal
Extreme metal
Extreme metal is a loosely defined umbrella term for a number of related heavy metal music subgenres that have developed since the early 1980s. The term usually refers to a more abrasive, harsher, underground, non-commercialized style or sound nearly always associated with genres like black metal,...
band Bal-Sagoth
Bal-Sagoth
Bal-Sagoth is a symphonic black metal band from Yorkshire, England, formed in 1993.Originally formed as an epic/symphonic black metal band with strong death metal elements, vocalist/lyricist Byron Roberts took the name 'Bal-Sagoth' from the Robert E. Howard short story "The Gods of Bal-Sagoth"...
.
Originally hailing from Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
, England, and also holding full Canadian citizenship, due to many years spent living in Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
and Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
, Roberts graduated from Sheffield Hallam University
Sheffield Hallam University
Sheffield Hallam University is a higher education institution in South Yorkshire, England, based on two sites in Sheffield. City Campus is located in the city centre, close to Sheffield railway station, and Collegiate Crescent Campus is about two miles away, adjacent to Ecclesall Road in...
with an Honours Degree in English, writing his final year thesis on the genres of pulp fantasy, science fiction and horror, and more specifically the works of H.P. Lovecraft. Roberts originated the band's concept, and writes all the lyrics for Bal-Sagoth
Bal-Sagoth
Bal-Sagoth is a symphonic black metal band from Yorkshire, England, formed in 1993.Originally formed as an epic/symphonic black metal band with strong death metal elements, vocalist/lyricist Byron Roberts took the name 'Bal-Sagoth' from the Robert E. Howard short story "The Gods of Bal-Sagoth"...
, having performed the vocals on all six Bal-Sagoth albums to date as well as the band's 1993 demo.
1989 - 1993: The inception of Bal-Sagoth
Roberts came up with the idea for the band Bal-SagothBal-Sagoth
Bal-Sagoth is a symphonic black metal band from Yorkshire, England, formed in 1993.Originally formed as an epic/symphonic black metal band with strong death metal elements, vocalist/lyricist Byron Roberts took the name 'Bal-Sagoth' from the Robert E. Howard short story "The Gods of Bal-Sagoth"...
circa 1989. For years, he had been seeking suitable musicians with whom he could collaborate to realize his grand vision of forming "a sublimely symphonic black/death metal band swathed in a concept of dark fantasy/science-fiction and ancient myths & legends." However, none of those he approached were willing to commit to the endeavour. In 1993, after several aborted attempts to launch the project, he was introduced to the musician Jonny Maudling
Jonny Maudling
Jonny Maudling is an English composer, keyboard player and former drummer for the band Bal-Sagoth. Maudling's primary instruments are Roland synthesizers when playing live. He comes from a musical family and was classically trained on piano from an early age...
and his brother Chris Maudling, who were at that time jamming cover versions with their friends, and who were also looking to form a serious band. Rehearsals followed, and some months later, after a minor line-up reshuffle, the formal inception of Bal-Sagoth
Bal-Sagoth
Bal-Sagoth is a symphonic black metal band from Yorkshire, England, formed in 1993.Originally formed as an epic/symphonic black metal band with strong death metal elements, vocalist/lyricist Byron Roberts took the name 'Bal-Sagoth' from the Robert E. Howard short story "The Gods of Bal-Sagoth"...
took place. The band began composing songs, the ultimate result (now some seventeen years later) being a six album discography currently available from Cacophonous Records and Nuclear Blast
Nuclear Blast
Nuclear Blast is an independent record label and mail order record distributor with subsidiaries in Germany, the United States and Brazil. The record label was founded in 1987 by Markus Staiger in Germany. Originally releasing hardcore punk records, the label moved on to releasing albums by melodic...
. For a more extensive account of the band and its releases, see Bal-Sagoth
Bal-Sagoth
Bal-Sagoth is a symphonic black metal band from Yorkshire, England, formed in 1993.Originally formed as an epic/symphonic black metal band with strong death metal elements, vocalist/lyricist Byron Roberts took the name 'Bal-Sagoth' from the Robert E. Howard short story "The Gods of Bal-Sagoth"...
.
Lyrical content and influences
Drawing inspiration from such writers as Robert E. HowardRobert E. Howard
Robert Ervin Howard was an American author who wrote pulp fiction in a diverse range of genres. Best known for his character Conan the Barbarian, he is regarded as the father of the sword and sorcery subgenre....
, H. P. Lovecraft
H. P. Lovecraft
Howard Phillips Lovecraft --often credited as H.P. Lovecraft — was an American author of horror, fantasy and science fiction, especially the subgenre known as weird fiction....
, Edgar Rice Burroughs
Edgar Rice Burroughs
Edgar Rice Burroughs was an American author, best known for his creation of the jungle hero Tarzan and the heroic Mars adventurer John Carter, although he produced works in many genres.-Biography:...
, Frank Herbert
Frank Herbert
Franklin Patrick Herbert, Jr. was a critically acclaimed and commercially successful American science fiction author. Although a short story author, he is best known for his novels, most notably Dune and its five sequels...
, J.R.R. Tolkien, Shakespeare, Arthur C. Clarke
Arthur C. Clarke
Sir Arthur Charles Clarke, CBE, FRAS was a British science fiction author, inventor, and futurist, famous for his short stories and novels, among them 2001: A Space Odyssey, and as a host and commentator in the British television series Mysterious World. For many years, Robert A. Heinlein,...
, Clark Ashton Smith
Clark Ashton Smith
Clark Ashton Smith was a self-educated American poet, sculptor, painter and author of fantasy, horror and science fiction short stories. He achieved early local recognition, largely through the enthusiasm of George Sterling, for traditional verse in the vein of Swinburne...
, David Gemmell
David Gemmell
David Andrew Gemmell was a bestselling British author of heroic fantasy. A former journalist and newspaper editor, Gemmell had his first work of fiction published in 1984. He went on to write over thirty novels. Best known for his debut, Legend, Gemmell's works display violence, yet also explore...
, George Lucas
George Lucas
George Walton Lucas, Jr. is an American film producer, screenwriter, and director, and entrepreneur. He is the founder, chairman and chief executive of Lucasfilm. He is best known as the creator of the space opera franchise Star Wars and the archaeologist-adventurer character Indiana Jones...
, Jack Kirby
Jack Kirby
Jack Kirby , born Jacob Kurtzberg, was an American comic book artist, writer and editor regarded by historians and fans as one of the major innovators and most influential creators in the comic book medium....
and Stan Lee
Stan Lee
Stan Lee is an American comic book writer, editor, actor, producer, publisher, television personality, and the former president and chairman of Marvel Comics....
, Roberts set out to create his own dark and baroque fantasy universe, with tales told through the medium of extreme metal albums.
He named the band Bal-Sagoth
Bal-Sagoth
Bal-Sagoth is a symphonic black metal band from Yorkshire, England, formed in 1993.Originally formed as an epic/symphonic black metal band with strong death metal elements, vocalist/lyricist Byron Roberts took the name 'Bal-Sagoth' from the Robert E. Howard short story "The Gods of Bal-Sagoth"...
in honour of one of his primary literary inspirations, the writer Robert E. Howard
Robert E. Howard
Robert Ervin Howard was an American author who wrote pulp fiction in a diverse range of genres. Best known for his character Conan the Barbarian, he is regarded as the father of the sword and sorcery subgenre....
, whose story "The Gods of Bal-Sagoth" had first appeared in the legendary pulp fantasy magazine Weird Tales
Weird Tales
Weird Tales is an American fantasy and horror fiction pulp magazine first published in March 1923. It ceased its original run in September 1954, after 279 issues, but has since been revived. The magazine was set up in Chicago by J. C. Henneberger, an ex-journalist with a taste for the macabre....
during the 1930s.
Sometimes dubbed "The Multiverse" and/or "The Omniverse", Roberts's lyrical world is an extensive landscape of fantasy/science fiction, ranging from intergalactic tales of rogue gods and cosmic empires, to historical epics and high adventures, to sword and sorcery style sagas. The stories of the lyrical world are all connected to a greater or lesser degree, and are roughly divided into several different eras. The first era is the "antediluvian" epoch, during which most of the sword & sorcery style stories take place. Tales occurring even earlier than this, such as when the planet Earth consisted of the megacontinent Pangaea
Pangaea
Pangaea, Pangæa, or Pangea is hypothesized as a supercontinent that existed during the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras about 250 million years ago, before the component continents were separated into their current configuration....
, are also usually grouped into this broad chronological categorization. Then there is an era covering recorded human history from ancient times to roughly the end of World War II, during which Roberts's historical stories occur. Thirdly there is a future era, which roughly dates from the year 2104 all the way to a timeframe many thousands of years in the future, and it is during this epoch that the science-fiction oriented stories take place. Key inspirations for the vast canon are arcane mythology, ancient history, legends, and the occult. The world of the lyrics is a vast place spanning countless millennia, and is chronicled in Roberts's forthcoming A-Z Glossary Mk. II, dubbed simply "The Lexicon".
Byron Roberts creates all the concepts, storylines, characters, places and lyrics for Bal-Sagoth
Bal-Sagoth
Bal-Sagoth is a symphonic black metal band from Yorkshire, England, formed in 1993.Originally formed as an epic/symphonic black metal band with strong death metal elements, vocalist/lyricist Byron Roberts took the name 'Bal-Sagoth' from the Robert E. Howard short story "The Gods of Bal-Sagoth"...
. He also designed the band logo, the album cover concepts, and all the booklet layouts.
The Expanded Multiverse
Roberts also plans to publish a series of Bal-Sagoth related comic books/graphic novels further detailing the extensive stories of the lyrical multiverse, as well as a collection of illustrated prose stories, and even collectible cards featuring his characters, to be illustrated by his longtime artistic collaborator Martin HanfordMartin Hanford
Martin Hanford is a British fantasy artist based in Herefordshire, England. In addition to painting album covers and t-shirt designs for a variety of heavy metal bands, including England's Bal-Sagoth, his work has featured on the covers of several novels published by Games Workshop.- References...
.
Vocal style
Byron Roberts's original vocal style combines black metalBlack metal
Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, shrieked vocals, highly distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, blast beat drumming, raw recording, and unconventional song structure....
screams with a pitched-down "narrator's" voice, enabling him to relay story elements in a clear and compelling manner, present dialogue between characters, and imbue the vocals with a "light and dark" contrasting feel. Roberts's primary musical inspirations are bands such as Bathory
Bathory (band)
Bathory was a Swedish heavy metal band, formed by Quorthon in 1983. They are regarded as pioneers of both black metal and viking metal. Quorthon remained the main songwriter and member of Bathory for more than two decades. Bathory was permanently ended after Quorthon's death in 2004...
, Celtic Frost
Celtic Frost
Celtic Frost was a metal band from Zürich, Switzerland. They are known for their heavy influence on the extreme metal genres. The group was first active from 1984 to 1993, and re-formed in 2001. Following Tom Gabriel Fischer's departure in 2008, Celtic Frost decided to break up again...
, Deicide
Deicide (band)
Deicide is an American death metal band formed in 1987. Their first two albums, Deicide and Legion, are ranked second and third place in best-selling death metal albums of the SoundScan era.-As Amon/Carnage :...
, Morbid Angel
Morbid Angel
Morbid Angel is an American death metal band based in Tampa, Florida. UK music magazine Terrorizer ranked one Morbid Angel album in its “Top 40 greatest death metal albums”, with their 1989 debut Altars of Madness appearing at number 1...
, Sabbat
Sabbat (band)
Sabbat are a thrash metal band from Nottingham, England, currently consisting of Martin Walkyier , Andy Sneap , Simon Jones , Gizz Butt and Simon Negus . Over the years Sabbat have released three studio albums, four demos, two split singles/compilation albums, two singles and a live VHS...
, Slayer
Slayer
Slayer is an American thrash metal band formed in Huntington Park, California, in 1981 by guitarists Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King. Slayer rose to fame with their 1986 release, Reign in Blood, and is credited as one of the "Big Four" thrash metal acts, along with Metallica, Megadeth and...
, et al.
Byron Roberts also contributed guest vocals to the "Dominion" demo from death metal
Death metal
Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal. It typically employs heavily distorted guitars, tremolo picking, deep growling vocals, blast beat drumming, minor keys or atonality, and complex song structures with multiple tempo changes....
band Blasphemer, and to the "Halcyon" EP from the doom metal
Doom metal
Doom metal is an extreme form of heavy metal music that typically uses slower tempos, low-tuned guitars and a much "thicker" or "heavier" sound than other metal genres...
band Solstice
Solstice (UK band)
Solstice is an epic doom metal band from England, founded by Rich Walker after the breaking up of his previous hardcore punk / grindcore bands Sore Throat and Warfear...
.
Battle Orders and medieval reenactment
Roberts also came up with the idea of a sponsorship with a replica arms & armour supplier in 1996. As a result, the company Battle Orders Ltd. supplied him with an array of swords and other replica materials that he often uses on stage and in publicity photos.In addition to his writing and musical pursuits, Byron Roberts also has an extensive history of experience in medieval battle reenactment societies. Some of the groups of which he has been a member include "Knights In Battle Medieval Society (13th century)", "The Company of the Hawk (15th century)", "The Howards (15th century)", "The Burgundians (15th century)", "The Warhird of Thorr Yngvisson (Dark Ages)", and "Regia Anglorum
Regia Anglorum
Regia Anglorum is a Medieval reenactment organisation reenacting the life and times of the peoples who lived in and around the Islands of Britain from the time of Alfred the Great to Richard the Lionheart...
(Dark Ages)".