It would be a simple thing to talk about The Satanist in terms of Nergal’s bout with leukemia, how in the face of sickness and death he found it within himself to create a towering work of death metal fury, the rage and volume a shout against his condition, his mortality, and his reliance on a higher power.  I’m pretty sure a ton of magazines and sites did just that.  But coming to the album, and to Behemoth years later, I’m left with the realization that – as solid as the metal is, and as good as The Satanist is – I don’t see myself reaching for this or any of the albums when I’m in need of a loud death metal fix.  Continue reading “Behemoth: The Satanist (2013)”

We’re back with the Good News, because apparently “good news” is a loose translation of the word evangelion, which also happens to be the name of the 2009 album from Behemoth.  And it is good news, because after the dulling of Nergal’s schtick with Demigod and The Apostasy (which I never bothered buying but a quick re-listen confirmed I made the right choice) Evangelion is a brutal return to form. Continue reading “Behemoth: Evangelion (2009)”

It’s not that Demigod, the 2004 followup to Zos Kia Cultus by Behemoth is bad…it’s not.  It’s just that this is the first album where the songs really begin to blur and I lose interest about halfway through.  There’s less distinction through the album, less that jumps out and grabs you.  This is blessing and curse of blind buying based on previous albums: sometimes you get gold, sometimes you get, well…meh. Continue reading “Behemoth: Demigod (2004)”

Behemoth is back and surprise: they’re still angry at God.  I’m pretty sure I bought both Zos Kia Cultus at the same time as Thelema.6 to try the band out, and listening back there’s a lot I like: things have evolved somewhat, taking a (very) slightly slower approach, more bottom-heavy and menacing, but still ready to riff your head six feet in the ground.  Occult and Aleister Crowley reign over the proceedings, but since I can barely understand the words, it has little impact to the punishing hooks contained o the album. Continue reading “Behemoth: Zos Kia Cultus (2002)”

You have to embrace the ridiculous a little bit when it comes to extreme metal.  Otherwise the act just falls into pretension.  For all of his posturing, Behemoth frontman Adam “Nergal” Darski knows a certain amount of pop and circumstance give life to his musical entity, and he embraces it.  Thelema.6 eschews the more blackened elements of the band’s earlier output in favor of a real slick, dare I say catchy death metal that still sounds great, even better than a lot of his later output.  It remains one of my favorite releases from the band, and that’s even without the David Bowie cover. Continue reading “Behemoth: Thelema.6 (2000)”