Demo

- No cover was made for this demo

This demo was never officially released; it was just sent out on the underground tape trading network in 1993 in order to be circulated.

Track 1 is sampled from the film "Masters of the Universe". Frank Langella, playing the part of Skeletor, speaks the lines.
Track 2 is a different, shorter version of the song that later appeared on "A Black Moon Broods Over Lemuria".
Track 3, after extensive lyrical and musical changes, eventually became "Shadows 'Neath The Black Pyramid" from "A Black Moon Broods Over Lemuria".
Track 4 was eventually dismantled and had some of its constituent parts incorporated into other songs.

Tracks 2 and 3 are both featured as exclusive bonus tracks on the Japanese pressing of the Bal Sagoth album "Atlantis Ascendant".

Contrary to popular belief, there is no cover artwork for this demo. The band sent this as a blank tape to record labels and copied it onto other blank tapes for fans who requested it. The picture shown was thrown together by someone using an old band photo and some photoshop working. Funnily enough, this cover IS shown on the official Bal-Sagoth page.

After the last song, there is a short outro sample resembling a gate grinding to a close. The whole is only around 8 seconds long. Vocalist/lyricist Byron Roberts took the fire and portcullis closing sound effects used on the demo from the BBC Radiophonic Workshop "Death and Horror" sound effects album.

Re-released in limited quantities on CD and vinyl in September 2013 by Godreah Records using the title "Apocryphal Tales", featuring remastered audio and bonus content, to honour the 20th anniversary of the demo:
5. Hyperborean Requiem (00:31) (experimental piece, dating from around 2004)
6. Beyond Hatheg-Kla (06:19) (longer version, of which the "Hatheg-Kla" intro from 'A Black Moon Broods over Lemuria' is an excerpt)

Recording information:

Recorded December 1993 in Sheffield, Yorkshire - England.