Review Summary: Grow and learn - or be forever fallen.
Gluttony – one of the seven deadly sins, traditionally defined as excess in eating and drinking; regarding both the quantity, and the quality of the act. It could easily be extrapolated it onto the general concept of indulgence. Having one’s head so far up their own ass that they disconnect from the world of reason, or perhaps overt focus on the destination at the cost of choosing the way without proper care. Where have we seen that in music?
Ah, yes. Behemoth. Still one of the biggest Polish musical acts, which is a degree of success I sincerely congratulate them for. Yet, the band has clearly been out of decent musical ideas for years now, for the sake of Nergal’s increasingly stupid antics. Last year’s
The *** ov God was a failure on all fronts exactly because of that. The sound was stale, the production muddy and overbearing, and even if the blasphemous lyrics and imagery could carry the record on their own, these had already been dragged past the line of auto-parody. The Unholy Trinity’s latest offering is a different beast, though. The title –
I, Scvlptor – and the artwork look gracious. Not contrived nor comically grandiose, not this time. And the contents? This EP is a compilation of recent material, re-recordings and covers, meant to represent the Behemoth ov old and new. Such releases are bound to catch my eye for the sheer merit of being little cabinets of curiosities, additional insights into the given artist’s direction and creative process; apart from that however, it presents considerably higher quality than its long-format predecessor.
To most, of greatest interest here are the three recent, original compositions. Two of these, the title track and
Begotten, are outtakes from the previous album that, surprisingly, manage to transcend the mediocrity of their peer material. The riffs are way more distinct, the structures nowhere near repetitive; the compositions take their time to develop instead of aimlessly plodding. The production in particular is Behemoth’s best in the current decade. After the gritty, barren soundscape of
Opvs Contra Natvram and the cluttered mess of
The *** ov God, we are graced with a perfectly clear, spacious sound providing the songs with atmospheric depth.
I, Scvlptor benefits from that the most: an elegant, brooding anthem adorned with imposing orchestrations, reminiscent of Septicflesh without being plagued by the same production issues.
Begotten takes a different route as a fast, riff-loaded cut housing what’s easily the most memorable bridge that the band has produced in a long time; a simple breakdown succeeded by an effective vocal-solo exchange and a strikingly gloomy outro riff. Next to them reigns
Lord ov the Horizons, the only entirely new song on the record. Here, the term “song” is most fitting as its dark, bluesy verses feature unexpected clean vocals. An oddity, but an advantageous one. Nergal turns out to have a very pleasant singing voice and it only adds to the melancholy, contrasted by commanding, aggressive refrains. When he roars “shine my Apollo, shine!”, he does so with so much passion that, together with everything else these three tracks get right, it makes
The *** ov God sound even more like a fever dream. Even the alternate mix of the song included later on doesn’t feel too redundant – the more striking vocal production and subtle melodic differences make it a good supplement that could safely compete with the final version.
The rest of the EP is a mixed, yet interesting, bag of re-recordings and covers.
In Thy Pandemaeternum was already a massive track subtly infused with synths, which should work well with Behemoth’s current style – in theory. In spite of having more nuanced instrumental lines, the new rendition loses due to diminished rawness and relentlessness, partly caused by the speed being noticeably lower. The cover of Bathory’s classic
The Return of Darkness and Evil would also suffer from being competent but void of the original charm if the version found on here was indeed Behemoth’s studio cover from April. Instead, it’s a live recording featuring Sakis Tolis of Rotting Christ, which suffers from poor vocals but retains a welcome raw edge. Meanwhile,
Rise of the Blackstorm of Evil and
In League with Satan are nothing short of stellar. The former, taken from the 1993 demo
The Return of the Northern Moon, underwent a complete overhaul; from an overlong, repetitive track it was rearranged into a shorter and much more diverse composition. The result combines a plethora of atmospheric riffs, thunderous percussion and another excellent bridge with the slightest amount of thrash at the start.
In League with Satan is a much more faithful take on the source material, albeit not without its own identity. Shagrath (Dimmu Borgir) forms a strong duo with Nergal, aided by a female choir in the chorus, while Orion adds some variety to the track with more elaborate drum patterns and a dynamic, bouncy pre-chorus. The outro comes with a few treats as well: the final chorus ends with manic laughter, followed by an extended outro filled with demonic utterances.
Despite being a relatively short compilation,
I, Scvlptor is more than welcome after whatever the hell
The *** ov God was. The difference between these releases is like night and day; most importantly, this EP sounds organic. It’s not another absurd attempt at bastardized symphonic metal. Quite the opposite, actually, as it appears that looking back at their past and further experimenting with their present gave Behemoth an opportunity to again create something worthwhile. Whether that’s any indication of their future direction or merely a temporary exercise at exacting control over Nergal’s infantilism remains to be seen, but right now, we’re left with a solid proof that Behemoth still have what it takes to make good music.
