Behemoth

Behemoth ‘And The Forest Dreams Eternally’
Code 666, 1994
Tyrant:
And The Forest Dreams Eternally is Behemoth’s first official release in the form of a five track mini cd. Starting off with ‘Transylvanian Forest’ which is introduced with samples of birds cawing and a gentle breeze before breaking into a furious raw blackmetal assault with fuzzy guitars, sickly rasped vocals and decent percussion. Slowing things down a bit is ‘Moonspell Rites’ with a haunting opening riff and deep narrative vocals, the song soon breaks into a mid era Darkthrone rocky plod with flemmy rasps and a spewed chorus. ‘Sventevith Storming Near The Baltic’ breaks the mould with more traditional blackmetal riffing and up tempo drumming again with rasping vocals shrieking over the top. ‘Pure Evil And Hate’ ( a tribute to Bathory ) is again a more up tempo track but has a more punky ring to it jostling along like some of the more recent Carpathian Forest material, whilst the closer ‘Forgotten Empire Of Dark Witchcraft’ is introduced with blowing winds and acoustic guitars overlaying the harsher fuzz drenched riffing similar to early Satyricon’s slower moments producing a more epic atmospheric track like the opener. Overall ‘And The Forest…’ is a decent first release especially considering it was recorded in just two days.
Favourite Tracks – Forgotten Empire Of Dark Witchcraft ; Transylvanian Forest ; Moonspell Rites
Mark – 7/10

Behemoth 'Sventevith : Storming Near the Baltic'
Last Epitaph, 1995
Tyrant:
Sventevith is a pure slice of necro pagan blackmetal from the Polish legends. Behemoth play a blend of self titled era Borknagar and 'Medieval Times' era Satyricon in their own unique style. Firstly they are a lot faster than Satyricon was with drumming reaching blastbeat speed more often, and secondly they add an excellent feel and dimension to the music by having acoustic melodies played over the top of the raging music ( similar to Bathory on their Viking albums ) as well as for intro’s and middle song sections. A very light use of keyboards enhances a few of the tracks, namely 'Hidden In Fog', the musical piece 'Ancient', and the outro 'Hell Dwells In Ice', Sventevith is an album full of depth, accomplishment and dynamic feel without compromising its grim status or underground appeal with a harsh production values and black and white cover art that was prevalent in the early scene. Vocalist/guitarist Nergal has an interesting rasp slightly screechier ( similar to Burzum ) than most and drummer Baal has an interesting and varied drumming style that eliminates the monotony that usually accompanies this style of music. The album ends with the bonus track 'Transylvanian Forest', taken from 'And The Forests Dream Eternally' Ep. Overall a high calibre and underrated blackmetal release, get it now.
Favourite Tracks - Chant of the Eastern Lands ; Entering the Faustian Soul ; Hidden In Fog
Mark - 8/10

Behemoth 'Grom'
Solistitium, 1996
Tyrant:
Behemoth's second full length opus 'Grom' is a defining album for both the band and the genre, combining heavy fast blackmetal with folk inspired and neo classical melodies to create something encompassing and unique. Production wise Grom is way ahead of its predecessor Sventevith with a crisp sharp heavy production allowing the very obviously Mayhem inspired guitar work to drive the album along with excellent and varied drum work that focuses as much on double kicks and rolls as it does blastbeats. Nergal again adds some excellent layered acoustic guitars over a few tracks as well as some strong emotive melodic solo passages ( see the middle of 'The Dark Forest' ) as well as a light yet effective sprinkling of keyboards ( see the start of 'Dragon's Lair' ) contributing to a highly dynamic album. Nergal's vocals range from a deep rasp through to more traditional blackmetal snarls as well as Attila inspired bellows and even deep operatic choir vocals which occasionally duel with some well performed female folk vocals. Lyrically Grom’s focus is on Pagan themes like Sventevith but it comes across stronger this time ( rather than like a vague poetic direction ) thanks to the folk style leanings and epic sounds of the album. Grom is also a more crafted work with more traditional song structuring better suiting the direction of the material. Overall a strange epic in the Behemoth catalogue, but a stunning must have for all pagan blackmetallers. Fans of Borknagar take note.
Favourite Tracks - Spellcraft and Heathendom ; Thou Shalt Forever Win ; Dragon's Lair
Mark - 9/10

Behemoth 'Pandaemonic Incantations'
Metal Mind, 1999
Tyrant:
NOTE: THIS RE-RELEASE, LIKE ALL ON METAL MIND RECORDS HAVE BEEN CONDEMNED BY THE BAND AS THEY RECEIVE NO ROYALTIES FROM THEIR SALE.
The digipak re-release of Pandaemonic Incantations contains 5 live bonus tracks, which are all good but will essentially be ignored for the purpose of this album review. Kicking of with a cool keyboard/chant intro the Polish horde soon unleash 'The Thousand Plagues I Witness' a track similar to some of the Grom material with keyboards, acoustic guitar passages, as well as fast and furious riffing and blastbeats. Three things will be immediately obvious upon first listening to Pandaemonic Incantations firstly: Nergal’s vocals are a little more restrained and less varied than they were on Grom; secondly the folk influences have been dropped in favour of a faster more aggressive approach; and thirdly the production on this album is fairly lame not allowing the material room to develop and lacking the necessary power to achieve its full potential. There is both good tempo variation across the album with slower tracks like 'Driven By The Five Winged Star' amidst faster ones like 'Satans Sword I have Become'. The shift of lyrical direction from pagan themes into more satanic territory marks a new direction for the band which perhaps reflects on the albums mood overall. All though containing a lot of good songs, Pandaemonic Incantations never really grips the listener and if you don’t fully focus on the material you’ll find your mind wandering very quickly. Overall this is a good transitional album but far from the Behemoth's best.
Favourite Tracks – With Spell Of Inferno ; The Thousand Plagues I Witness ; The Past Is Like Funeral
Mark – 6.5/10

Behemoth 'Satanica'
Avantgarde, 2000
Tyrant:
The Polish black metal legends return with a crushing new album following the progression displayed on 'Pandemonic Incantations' crossing further over into death metal territory. Pounding drums rain down over distorted guitar riffs with strangely timed melodic overlay leads. Brutal harsh vocals spew forth stellar, pagan, and irreligious themes throughout a well played technical approach at the black/death genre. Ranging from fast and furious 'Decade of Therion' and 'L.A.M.', through to slower chunkier moments 'The Sermon to the Hypocrites' and multilayered guitar work 'The Alchemists Dream', Satanica offers enough variation to keep the listener interested. Guitarist/Vocalist Nergal even attempts some clean vocals not to dissimilar to those in 'Grom' which adds more charm to Satanica's dynamics. Most of the featured tracks fade out with short unsettling keyboard/sample sections lasting between 5-10 seconds to help break up Behemoth's detonating sound between songs. Plenty of memorable hooks, riffs, and timing changes abound across Satanica's seemingly short length adding flair and brutality in perfect unison. Excellent presentation and cover art round off a very professional and essential package for fans of brutal extreme music.
Favourite tracks: Decade of Therion ; Ceremony of Shiva ; Of Sephirotic,
Transformation and Carnality
Mark: 8.5/10

Behemoth 'Thelema.6'
Avantgarde, 2001
Tyrant:
If you own Behemoth's previous release Satanica, then you no doubt know what to expect from their newest offering Thelema.6. Behemoth's descent into death metal realms deepens on Thelema.6, with many a familiar Morbid Angel style riff and a far tighter performance overall. Tempo wise Thelema.6 sits a notch above Satanica for the most part blasting through most of it's tracks at maniac speed with the signature timing changes and technicality of yore getting increasingly more proficient ( see 'Inauguration of Scorpio Dome' ). It's not all flat out though and songs like 'Pan Satyros' slow the pace a little and most of the tracks generally have slower sections during their course before the blastbeats kick in again. The drumming on Thelema.6 is worthy of special note, quite varied, fast and intellectual, flitting in and out of hyper speed at the drop of a hat, as are Nergal's vocals ( which I am a big fan of ) which are varied, interesting, and intense. Lyrically a little less pagan than Satanica, Thelema.6 seems to focus on a wider variety of topics, and this fits in with albums almost more 'modern' sound. Again Behemoth sport excellent cover art which tops off overall a very fine package indeed. Long live Polish extreme metal!
Favourite Tracks - Pan Satyros ; Natural Born Philisopher ; Antichristian
Phenomenon ; Christians To The Lions
Mark - 9/10

Behemoth ‘Zos Kia Cultus’
Avantgarde, 2002
Tyrant:
Behemoth’s return heralds yet another crushing opus of pure hateful deathmetal. Substantially slower than Thelema.6, Zos Kia Cultus assimilates the best elements of bands like Nile, Morbid Angel, and Zyklon with more familiar Behemoth trademarks to create an unmissable album of brutality. Nergal’s vocals retain their obnoxious edge whilst attempting other unique styles like the semi clean yelled passages in ‘Typhonian Soul Zodiac’. Some Egyptian themes have crept into a couple of the twelve tracks presented, both lyrically and musically, which are integrated tastefully and originally enough not to be considered a Nile clone ( unlike bands such as Nefas ). The production is perfect, heavy yet clean, allowing the more complex material to shine whilst beefing up the simpler musical passages. Inferno’s drumming is again tight and interesting with drilling double bass and frenzied blastbeats accompanying some slower groove orientated percussion. Acoustics, keyboards, and slight industrial tinges flavor Zos Kia Cultus’ material which adds both depth and charisma at appropriate intervals across the albums length. An excellently presented full colour booklet with lyrics and brief explanations of their origins and ideas round off yet another fine package.
Overall Behemoth have provided another fine achievement for their impressive constantly evolving catalogue.
Favourite Tracks – Typhonian Soul Zodiac ; Zos Kia Cultus ; As Above So Below
Mark – 9/10

Behemoth ‘Demigod’
Century Media, 2004
Tyrant:
Demigod is Behemoth’s most brutal, aggressive and technically proficient album to date featuring the same breed of intense deathmetal as Zos Kia Cultus and Thelema.6. It seems that Behemoth have finally found their comfort zone as each of the previous records have progressed in someway whilst Demigod just seems to sound much more familiar. Opener ‘Conquering The Throne Of Seth’ starts with a plucky acoustic intro before rumbling into a raging high speed assault on the senses. The title track then starts opening with sound of battle horns and a slow heavy build up sure to be a live favourite. Demigod then continues in fairly traditional ( predictable ) Behemoth fashion with slower bits/faster bits, acoustic bits, serpentine riffing over brutal passages etc ( with the exception of the epic Egyptian themed album closer ‘The Reign Ov Shemsu-Hor’ ) but lacks the personality the previous 3 albums had. This I put down to two things, firstly the incessant brutality of the album, this is pure unrelenting energy all the way through, and secondly Nergal’s vocals which are even more obnoxious and much less varied than usual. These two small things have a profound effect on the album making it much less than it could have been given some vocal and tempo deviance like in Zos Kia Cultus. This is still a strong and intriguing death metal release its just much less than I was expecting from such a skilled and intriguing band.
Favourite Tracks – Demigod ; Conquer All ; Slaves Shall Serve
Mark – 7/10

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