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After almost two months since the last "Felin Frost's Black Mass" got broadcasted on Terra Relicta radio, black metal fans will soon get another show of their taste. The name of the show is "Bál's bells - toll black metal", its creator/host is Bálint Rósz from the Hungarian black metal project Bál. The show is scheduled every second Sunday of the month at 20.00 [CEST]. By reading the interview, you'll get to (better) know Bálint Rósz, his one-man-band Bál, and everything you need to know - and more - about "Bál's bells - toll black metal" radio show.
Interview with: Bálint Rósz
Conducted and edited by: Jerneja
Jerneja: Hello Bálint, we are pleased to have another musician joining Terra Relicta. Besides the already established and well-accepted "The Nino Sable show" Terra Relicta radio listeners will have a pleasure following your show, "Bál's bells - toll black metal", also. While Nino Sable has been involved with music for over 20 years, you appeared about five years ago, so would you please introduce yourself?
Bálint: Hello Terra Relicta, hello everybody. First of all, thank you so much for having me and for the kind wording. It's my pleasure to give this interview and hold "Bál's bells – toll black metal" for all of you. My name is Bálint Rósz, and I'm the former and only member of the one-man-black metal band called Bál. I was born in 1994 in Budapest, Hungary. Extreme music - the kind of sounds that are hard to listen to others, has been a part of my life since the beginning, which doesn't only mean metal, but other kinds of genres too. There are a few musicians in my family, so I think, I couldn't avoid being one myself. I got most of the influences from Hungarian folk music because I've been learning and practising Hungarian folk dance since I was seven or around. Maybe it's surprising and unbelievable, but extreme metal is with me since I was even younger than seven. I remember a funny story about the times when I went to kindergarten. So one day the teachers told us to bring our favourite tapes with us, and I brought my favourite Cannibal Corpse one, it was The Bleeding or Gallery Of Suicide, I don't remember. She put that shit in the tape recorder, and after around 2,356 seconds of playtime, she stopped it and told me it was not okay here because nobody liked it besides me. Shit happens... Anyways, telling you the truth, black metal is a part of my life since only 2016 because I missed this subgenre somehow. Most of the artists whom I cooperated or worked with are the typical trve cvlt black metalheads, but somehow I got their respect based on my unique metal project, which means to me, I do something right. When I was a pre-teen, my father showed me a few chords, but I didn't care about it at that time. I was more excited about drums, and I played them for a few years, but I stopped because of school and girls. At the age of 20, I started to show more interest in guitars - these wonderful instruments, and two or three years later, I began learning songs and record cover videos. This is how the huge wave got me again, and slowly I began composing my tracks. I bought a bass, learned the basics of screaming, and everything necessary for recording, mixing, and mastering. The last two things are still in progress, but I think once you start to really care about something and learn how something works, you'll be learning it until your last day. Actually, if you're interested in me or anything like that, throw me a mail at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Jerneja: I stuck on the word "former". Was it just "lapsus calami", or you are done with your solo project BÁL?
Bálint: No, I'm not done with Bál at all, I just wanted to add this little extra because it's important. I'm the only person behind Bál, and it will be like this forever. Bál is Bálint, and Bálint is Bál. It began with me, and it'll end with me - when it has to die, but I don't feel anything like that. Bál is active, and I'm not planning to leave my walking stick. Maybe there will be times in the future when I won't be as productive as until now.
Jerneja: I first heard of Bál some months ago, after you contacted Terra Relicta, and then I hosted you in the [Dark] Unknown radio show in April. By that time, you already had quite an extensive music opus released, especially regarding five-year mileage. Where do you get all this inspiration?
Bálint: Most people who mention Bál mention this as the first thing - a huge discography in a short time. The recipe is easy. I only made music when I feel I have to. It's therapy to me, it's where I find my peace, release and express myself. Everyone has something terrible that happened to him/her; everyone has shitty days, etc... I'm one of the members of this group called human beings. Some people go to a psychologist or the local priest to tell their stories, problems, but this is not my way, though. I don't want to be too philosophical, but everyone's pain is the worst pain for themselves; what makes a difference is called sensitivity. And I'm a kind of sensitive guy. Once I learned how to convert these feelings to notes and lyrics, this activity became my walking stick. In the beginning, there was a lot of anger and fear in my tracks, replaced with time with hopelessness and acceptance, I think. Some of my pieces caricature me or the world around me. For example, on my last release Tánc, via the song called "Zárt ajtó" I made fun of my voice with quacking ducks, even this and the song before, are conceptual songs about a pair of people, in a long term relationship, one of them with a deadly illness. I don't really know, sometimes it's funny, even if it's evil, sometimes it's really serious, and I really wish, ask and howl for help. Eventually, when you learn your tools, you can use them universally. The only thing that feeds me every time and all the time is how much I hate our human nature - the way we work is pathetic. Maybe the best description I found is in the movie Matrix when Agent Smith talks about us humans: "I'd like to share a revelation that I've had during my time here. It came to me when I tried to classify your species and I realized that you're not actually mammals. Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with the surrounding environment but you humans do not. You move to an area and you multiply and multiply until every natural resource is consumed and the only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus. Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet. You're a plague..." But I really agreed with the feeling behind this one as well: "I'm going to be honest with you. I hate this place, this zoo, this prison, this reality, whatever you want to call it. I can't stand it any longer. It's the smell if there is such a thing. I feel saturated by it. I can taste your stink, and every time I do I fear that I have somehow been infected by it. It's repulsive! Isn't it? I must get out of here. I must get free,...". So this is the short answer for how and why, if you want to understand it more, you should listen to the songs and read the lyrics. You'll find more HERE.
Jerneja: Your inspiration and beautiful calm voice made us consider you as a great radio show host. And being engaged with black metal, launching a new black metal show with you after the end of "Felin Frost's Black Mass" seemed right on cue. So, what's the inspiration behind "Bál's bells - toll black metal" radio show?
Bálint: Ohh, thanks for the kind words again - I really appreciate it. From my point of view, my show won't replace hers because we are two different people with different points of view and tastes in music, but I'll try my best to bring something enjoyable just like she did, though only once a month. My goal with the show is to support the nowadays underground black metal scene and other talented bands/musicians whose music material is inspired by black metal. So, if you're such a band/musician, don't be afraid to send me your material to my email address. This way we can form this show for our taste. The first show bases on a few of my favourite bands - the ones that really got me - and a few more somehow connected to me. "Bál's bells - toll black metal" show is designed for open-minded people who like discovering new and innovative bands. I know it's hard to do something new these days because, roughly said, most music has already been done, but I'm looking for creativity. You know that feeling when you are listening to a random playlist or a show in the background, and you have this "whoaaah, what was that?" feeling, and as a droid, automatically click away to check who made it? Who is the artist? What's the name of the band? And you begin to listen to that song or album for weeks-long until you get nearly bored of it. If you don't know this feeling, then this is the right place for you to discover it and finally listen to some fucking tasty shit instead of the 3967 Burzum, Darkthrone, Emperor,... copycat bands. Yes, we'll listen to some second wave-ish songs and others, but we need something new, something creative, innovative, and something full of energy. Maybe a huge dose of energy is the keyword for "Bál's bells – toll black metal".
Jerneja: Bál one-man band has lately cooperated with several musicians and artists. Are you thinking of launching a new musical project?
Bálint: This is the best moment to mention every artist I've ever collaborated with. If I remember correctly, the first artist I worked with was Smara Kand, a wonderful visual artist from Austria. We worked a lot together; our ideas became reality in the form of music videos, art films and other kinds of entities, longs and shorts. My EP, Hirsch, was in cooperation with her, released on 22 November 2020. She made all the lyrics, she was the video producer, an actress, and made the costumes and masks. Around this time, Petra began to work with her on my materials, and she was an actress, as well. If you're interested in some more info on this, please visit this article. The second visual artist I have to mention is the talented Marla Van Horn from Poland. The bells on the "Bál's bells – toll black metal" banner are the reason why I contacted her back in the day. I planned this as a front album cover, but the perfect time for this great design appeared now, for "Bál's Bells – toll black metal". We also made a split album together, released on 13 March 2021, called Survive After Death. She made a music video for our song "Bones To Ashes", which came out great. Since I was so glad about our cooperation, I asked her to get involved with yet one more song from my latest release Tánc. We made "Fészkedben álmodba", of which music video was made by Marla as well. Another visual artist I worked with is my fellow countryman Korcs. He designed the logo for the show that I'm fucking happy with, and he is also a dark techno musician. We made a special song together, he asked me to scream a few words, and he mixed the vocals in one of his tracks, the result is amazing, I must say. The first musician I worked with was Far From Everything from Brazil. His genre is dungeon synth and dark atmospheric experimental, and we made two split albums together, Infinite and Horror. We are planning to make another one shortly. I made another split album with Shaytan from the USA, and In Limbo was released on 31 May this year. The concept was the same, two-two songs from each artist; the only difference is that I wrote the lyrics and made the vocals for him. The cover art is made based on Thiago Rigoli's photo. Currently, I'm working on a split album with Sacred Death from the USA, but I don't want to say any more yet. I made vocals for the German band Zahrimar for the EP Down To The Pits Of Hell, as I get to know one of the members in 2018 when my debut was released. Ever since we are friends, right now working on a new album. I already wrote the lyrics and recorded the vocals for them. And when all gets done, I'm going to mix and master the material. Two weeks ago, I became the vocalist for Vargrike, which is a fresh new band. Velsingard (all the instruments) found me on Fiverr and asked me to write lyrics and contribute vocals for a four-song concept album. Some of these recordings you'll get to hear via the first "Bál's Bells – toll black metal" show.
Technically answering the questions, I'm not thinking about a new musical project; every one of these productions is connected to Bál, and as I'm currently working with others, I'm planning to do so in the future as well. If I accidentally become a member of a new band - it's not my fault, ha, ha... The best thing to work with others is that you can learn a lot about yourself and others. You became able to see things differently, from a different point of view, different angle, besides, you can meet many nice people. There are many "pros", and there are no real "cons", I must say. About my plans, I'm trying to expand my merch and design Bál on the stage somehow, but it's not easy at all. I have no other plans but working on Bál every day, and I like to think about this as solving problems (not irritating problems but simply problems as they are) and build Bál, grow Bál, feed Bál. I can't plan for the future - I do what I have to do at the moment.
Jerneja: You have just recently released a new album Tánc. How are you satisfied with the feedback?
Bálint: I'm dancing because of happiness, ha, ha... (Tánc means dance in Hungarian). All of the feedback that I got is really positive. I don't want to be pompous, just telling the truth. I only get positive feedback all the time; I found no bad words about my releases yet. Terra Relicta web magazine has also published one; you can check on it HERE. In my opinion, the magic behind this is that I don't care about people's opinions when I make my songs. I'd like to thank Lángoló (ex-Lángoló Gitárok) for the promotion that I got for this release. Lángoló is a pretty famous Hungarian music webzine, not only based on metal. All my materials are for me, and only for me, but I share them with everybody because it's how the therapy works best. Tánc will be released on CDs by BMC Productions in about a month, and I'm planning to release it myself on tapes and vinyl because this is missing from my merch collection.
Jerneja: Musicians usually prefer their latest releases - how about you, or which of your releases are you most proud of and why?
Bálint: This is a really hard question, but I'm going to try to wrestle it. I have favourite ones on every album, and so far, I got more proud after every album. For example, my favourite track from Duna is "Suffering Means Nothing To The Others", from Bú it's possibly "Bonfire" but I really like "Hiems Vision" too. The first song I was really proud of is "Vak Látnok" because this piece was the one I got the feeling it's finally me, it's finally Bál, and this song was the one I tried to follow when I made Tánc. I don't have a favourite one from Krampusz; this album is just pure hate and aggression, which I can't identify myself with nowadays, but I cannot tell, whether there won't be something like this in the future. The favourite ones from Hirsch are "Magie" and "Scythe", from Horror is "Ceremónia", from Survive After Death is "Bones To Ashes", from In Limbo it's "Pár sor hozzá" and from Tánc is "Óh, édes halál". Interestingly, the last two songs are actually odes to death. Anyways, I can't tell you why these songs are my favourite ones; maybe because these have the biggest amount of energy accumulated in them and these songs helped me the most to wake up from a nightmare. Summed up, the song and the album that I'm the proudest of are "Vak Látnok" and Tánc, so basically we could consider me in the same team of people. I wish I could show people "Magie" and "Óh, édes halál" on the stage in the future.
Jerneja: Considering your constant gear updating, you must be loaded. Now, seriously, can you afford all this only by "selling music" or you are loaded indeed? You know, like, Danish philosopher Kierkegaard, who wrote an ultra extensive opus, also because he never had to work for a living due to his father legacy...
Bálint: I’m not loaded at all, and almost nobody supports me financially. I can thank all of this to myself and all the hard work I’ve done over the years working for different companies. Money has been gathered little by little, and I always bought only the stuff that needed to be improved at the time - so, when it was needed and when I had enough coins for it. Back in the days when I began with my project, and I was still studying at the college, I had a part-time job and played music. I had a cheap, old laptop and a Squier Bullet Mustang (which I bought myself from my savings), a really cheap Behringer interface (UCA222) that I got from my father and a Zoom B2 multi-effect. I recorded my vocals with my cell phone, and mostly I tried to solve every problem digitally. To be frank, Bál's not making me rich at all. I’m trying to spend as much on it as it brings. For example, I get a few cents from people buying my digital albums via Bandcamp, but as I have some, I put this money back to buy some promotional codes to send for people who cannot afford to support me. I sold a few T-shirts and some CDs, though most of them I gave for free. Now I’m trying to gather some money from Fiverr selling my vocals and writing lyrics, from writing tablatures of songs and sketches for people who cannot solve these songs and sketches by ear, and from donations. Finally, as I already mentioned, I feel lucky for having every tool, equipment, piece of gear to express myself the way I want.
Jerneja: Yeah, unfortunately, it's a common musicians' story. I'm surprised by how few people are willing to pay for music, support musicians and the music scene they like,... On the other hand, there is always enough money for "bullshit", I guess... OK, my opinion aside, for now... Let's say a word or two about Bál's lyrics...
Bálint: 90% of my lyrics are written by me, though when I was cooperating with Smara, for some of the songs, she wrote the lyrics as well as she did the video and acting. It has always been based on how we designed the project that we were working on. Petra wrote some lyrics for me, too. I write lyrics in Hungarian and English language - it depends on my mood. And, when writing lyrics I really like to use symbols, metaphors and other poetic tools - like I'm trying to paint my ideas and all the shit inside my head to a canvas. It's not easy for me to talk about my lyrics, because I might open old wounds; and these lyrics are all written as I'm sitting down and reflecting about the things inside of me - sometimes when I'm sober but mostly when I drink a few beers or something because then it's easier, it help's to let the words go. Only a few of my lyrics are written on planned concepts, as I mentioned before, the two songs about a couple, one of them having a deadly illness; both a part of my last album. It's not about the illness, rather the situation as one is lying on the bed, and they are talking, one is asking the other to come with him/her to heaven or hell, but the other one doesn't want to die... If interested in my lyrics, you can find them all on my Bandcamp page.
Jerneja: You've mentioned drinking beer at least twice. Though with several vineyards and world-famous grapes, Hungary is a great destination for anyone looking to enjoy some quality local wine. So, wine is not your thing?
Bálint: It’s not this at all. Your words are true - we have tasty and fine wines here in Hungary, and I really recommend trying them out. I was born in the southern part of Buda, where are many vineyards and wineries. We had a winemaker in our family and I still have friends who own vineyards, so I usually go once every year to help them with my other mates to collect and squeeze the grapes. The thing is, good wine has a spirit, and I drink that rarely/occasionally - when there is a special event for it. My favourite ones are dry red wines, but it depends on the mood, meal, place and part of the day... I much recommend reading "The Philosophy Of Wine" by Béla Hamvas. We have other drinks as well, for example, pálinka. Though you can find this kind in most of the European countries, only named differently. Unicum is a Hungarian speciality, it's one of my favourites. I recommend reading about the history of this drink. Regarding alcoholic drinks - I usually drink beers, Dréhers, Soproni IPAs, Dutch Hertog Jans, English, Belgian and German ones, but I also like to try new things, and sometimes I just drink cheap shit. As my neighbour always says, "I could even drink the orphans’ tears".
Jerneja: Your radio show "Bál's bells – toll black metal" will be broadcasted every second Sunday of the month at 20.00 [CEST] on Terra Relicta radio, premiered on 12 September. You have already prepared all the material for over an hour-long first show, including also your track. Will we get to hear some of your music each time? Perhaps yet unreleased tracks?
Bálint: Naturally, if people want to hear some of my songs, I will include some in the playlists, even unreleased ones, but I don’t want to use this opportunity only to advertise myself because it’s not about Bál, even though I put a few songs in the playlist of the first show - those connected to me somehow. I included them because the premiere of "Bál's bells – toll black metal" is an introduction. I’d like to communicate with the listeners of the show, talk about their wishes, and if they like my stuff, then I’ll put more of it in the show.
Jerneja: What are your expectations, wishes, plans with "Bál's bells – toll black metal"? I hope (considering I'm already familiar with your first show, and I like it very much) it will last for quite some time, though you are engaged in so many projects...
Bálint: Thanks for the kind words. I hope the readers of this interview get hyped a bit, ha, ha... I don’t really have expectations, and I already mentioned my plans, wishes and goals above; I don’t know what else to say.
Bál links: Official website, Facebook, Instagram, Bandcamp, YouTube.
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