Album Review: Ba'al's The Fine Line Between Heaven and Here

What do you get when you crash black metal into post-metal? Ba'al is what you get. Breakdowns, sludgy riffs, screeching vocals, and long-winding proggy passages, it's like a buffet of the best parts between Eastern and Western cuisine. It shouldn't work, but it somehow does.

I was ready to go to bed, and one of the highlights of my day is to listen to an album I haven't listened to before. I have a huge queue of albums in several lists, grouped by year. But this time, I decided to trust the Spotify algorithm, and looking back at it now, I'm glad I did.

Ba'al - my only exposure to the name was from the Diablo games. He's one of the three Prime Evils, specifically, Ba'al is the Lord of Destruction. That's about it. So I'm going into this cold.

I'm reviewing the album, "The Fine Line Between Heaven and Here". What an impressive album title. I've always been interested in the various stories that capture the human struggle towards recognition of the higher being(s).

The album cover is excellent. Orange and black themed, with what looks like a city being engulfed by huge dust clouds, something that you'd see from a volcanic eruption. There's the sea in the foreground. Gritty. I love it.

The album has six songs, but it's far from being a short one. The average song length is around 10 minutes, with the longest one clocking in at almost 13 and a half minutes.

But it's a masterclass in post-metal songwriting. Beautifully dark passages, heavy-as-f*ck breakdowns, and a sprinkling of black metal that complements the climaxes of songs. The arrangements are carefully thought out. It's one of those albums that get better after each listen. I end up telling myself "So that's what they're going for!" several times now.

I highly recommend the album if you're a fan of post-metal, or if you're an open-minded proghead. Support the band via their Bandcamp page: https://baalbanduk.bandcamp.com/album/the-fine-line-between-heaven-and-here

The Fine Line Between Heaven and Here was released last year, 2025.