| Behemoth Sventevith (Storming Near the Baltic) |
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 | Tracklist:
- Chant of the Eastern Lands
- The Touch of Nya
- From the Pagan Vastlands
- Hidden in a Fog
- Ancient
- Entering the Faustian Soul
- Forgotten Cult of Aldaron
- Wolves Guard My Coffin
- Hell Dwells in Ice
- Transylvanian Forest
Release Date: 1995 | |
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On 1 Lists
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5 of 5 thought this review was well written
Just as the name implies, Behemoth began like a rabid beast, playing sadistic black metal. While a very expressive form of music like much black metal, Behemoth seemed to favor an abundant onslaught of sounds with a raw aggression instead of minimalism. If you’re expecting a fiery barrage of furious blast beats and tortured screams, you’re right. If you’re expecting repetitive simplicity and an hour of linear music, you’re far from the truth. Sventevith is an interesting blend of eastern themes, hatred of Christianity, raw elements, and creative musicianship. Intriguing would be an understatement for an album such as this. Black metal bands always seemed to be categorized very rigorously. You’re either a melodic black metal band, or you’re raw black metal, or you’re symphonic black metal, and so on. Behemoth confines themselves to no boundaries. They combine all of the aforementioned traits into one of my all-time favorite black metal albums.
I’m sure most people reading this are interested for two reasons. One, they like new Behemoth, or two, they’re fascinated by the roots of popular bands. Either way, Sventevith will surprise you. This isn’t some kind of watered-down or mainstream sounding metal. This is true, raw, aggressive black metal. Nergal’s shrieks could trigger unexplainable bleeding in Christian minds. The riffs are fast and dark with suitable, blasting drums. Essentially, this is black metal, no questions asked. The only questions may come from those wondering “how did they go from this to Demigod?"
The album’s many dimensions come from the vast array of effects and melodies used throughout the writing. Behemoth used somber synth effects and some ambience (see Ancient) to create an aura of admonition as well as a sense of ancient suffering and memories, spawned from Behemoth’s inspirations of religious revulsion and historical undertakings. Acoustic guitars such as that in The Touch of Nya are dispersed throughout the album to accent this feel with folk elements. Every characteristic of this Baltic-storming anthem comes together in a rather primal yet epic performance. While The Chant From the Eastern Land sounds like something Emperor may have written during their days with Enslaved, Hell Dwells in Ice is a journey of emotional melodic black metal. To balance out this spectrum, vicious songs such as From the Pagan Vastlands and the terrorizing Transylvanian Forest provide the reminiscent sounds of the Norwegian musical extraction extraction.
Sventevith is a landmark. Behemoth is known mostly for their later death metal days, but their early black metal albums remain compositions of some of the world’s finest black metal. This album gets regular plays for me every time I feel the need for black metal. Interests are aroused by such a mixture of musical elements and creativity. Sventevith is one of Behemoth’s many albums that show just how much meaning the band derives from their music. Every song and every lyric has some sort of symbolism for them. If you can’t tell it now and you couldn’t understand it back in their black metal days, then maybe Behemoth isn’t for you. But for the rest, they are one of metal’s most deserving bands of what little praise they garnish for their determination to produce superior metal from pagan vastlands.
A few recommended listens:
‡ From the Pagan Vastlands
‡ Entering the Faustian Soul
‡ Transylvanian Forest
Pros:
‡ Raw black metal at its finest
‡ Mixtures of elements
‡ Great variation in the music
Cons:
‡ Poor production may be unnerving
‡ Succumbs to black metal simplicity
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| Recent reviews by this author | | | |
this band is good everynow and then. I dont' like the vocals too much though.
good review too.
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Im not sure if u did it on purpose, but please fix the mammoth paragraph.
Digging: Animal Collective - Fall Be Kind
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
Thanks. Yeah, I know about the formatting, it's fixed.
Great album!
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Havn't heard their black metal stuff but apparently their death metal stuff is much better. Pretty good review.
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i just bought this cd a few days ago...its really good
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
Many comsider their black metal to be better then their death, mainly because this stuff is much less excessable. I prefer the newer stuff anyway.
| | | Album Rating: 4.5
I would like to point out that I am Christian, yet this album triggered no 'unexplainable bleeding' in my mind. Shame 'cause I was rather looking forward to it. Nevertheless, your review was great and the album (which I bought based on the review) is equally outstanding.
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
Thanks, hahha, I was of course kidding about the Christian bleeding thing.
You bought the album based on this review? Wow, thanks for putting faith in me.  It's nice to know people actually trust my opinion. I'm glad you enjoyed it.
| | | Album Rating: 4.5
I'm used to blind faith, I'm christian remember?
In any case, I downloaded From the Pagan Vastlands first, but yeah, mostly it was because of the review.
| | | Album Rating: 3
Ehhh.... Death Metal Behemoth > Black Metal Behemoth
All Behemoth > Grom Behemoth though.
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
Grom is most definitely the worst, but I still like it. It had strong points.
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a christian listening to sadistic black metal..... seems like an oxy moron to me
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I'm Christian too, I just like dark stuff...dunnoe why really. For example, I like my avatar because it's dark, not because i'm satanic. (Not to mention the game it's from is good :D)
Good Review! I love the little symbols you tend to use next to the pros/cons etc.
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Oh yeah, forgot to mention, I like metal/death metal/black metal because of how heavy it is, and also because i'm a drummer...and death/black metal is challenging.
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