Behemoth is a now death metal band from Poland. They began as a black metal band and slowly developed into the powerful death metal band they are today. They have undergone many line-up changes and that is probably one of the main reasons there sound has changed. The production on this album is perfect. The band comes together beautifully. The vocals are face crushing. The drumming is perfect, it doesn’t attempt to outshine the rest of the band, which is a common theme in today’s drumming. Instead, it compliments the rest of the music. This band is tight.
The album begins with an interesting acoustic guitar part that fades in. Then, a slow doom-like guitar part blasts in. Then the double bass. Then, finally after a perfect build up, the song smashes you down.
Sculpting the Throne ov Seth is a perfect opener song. With pinch harmonics galore and smashing chords and rhythms that will keep you interested in themselves. This song makes you think that this album will be a disappointment because it is so good.
Demigod comes in with quiet horns making a call to arms. Then the artillery arrives. The drums actually sound like machine guns here. It is perfect. This song gives you hope that you will not be let down. This song really shows how tight this band is.
Conquer All is definitely not as good as the first two songs but it still kicks ***. There is a very cool guitar passage that makes this song interesting but it doesn’t have the same cool rhythmic business that the other two did, nor does it have the super melodic guitars. The guitar solo is decent but this song deserves a more technical super speed solo a la Muhammed Sui’mez or Alexi Laiho. The biggest flaw with the band is that Nergal is not a better guitarist. He is forgiven for his excellent songwriting and vocals. He would make a great rhythm guitarist for one of the aforementioned guitarists. This song ends with a semi drum solo. The drummer is good, but again, a more technical one could make the album even better even if just in that one spot. He still fits everywhere else perfectly.
The Nephilim Rising is a return to the amazing-ness. There are some spoken samples and the riffs are great. There is a perfectly done guitar harmonizing section. This solo is good, but could be better. There is some very well done tapping and a bit of sweep picking. The acoustic guitar at the end just tops it off.
Towards Babylon is great. There is a sweep picking riff in there that makes your head twirl. This album does a great job of being super heavy but still very melodic. The solo in this song is very, very good but again, it could be improved. It sounds great musically but it is just a bit lacking.
Before Aeons Came is very strange. The beginning sounds like it could easily be dumbed down a bit and turned into an MTV hit. The strangest part is, it sounds awesome. Then it goes the other way. Again, some very nice riffage and overall awesomeness. I wish that this album flowed from one song to the next a bit better.
Each song is individually awesome but if they could just be molded with a held note of something. I say this because
Mysterium Coniunctionis (Hermanubis) comes next. It just explodes. An amazing song. The only fault (besides my whining about only demi-godly guitar solos as opposed to Godly ones(pun)) ‘ it has a fade out. Not that big a deal.
XUL Is a great song. It has a strange sound in it that reminds me of one of those Holloween decorations that howls. In any case, great song. The drumming really stands out here. The ending is also very cool. It’s a sort of ambient buzz.
The same sound at the beginning of
Slaves Shall Serve. This is the kind of flow I wanted. This solo is good, but feels almost like he’s playing the right solo, too slowly. Oh well. Great song. The second solo on the other hand, does fit. The chant of “Slaves shall serve” is a real selling point.
The Reign Ov Shemsu-Hor is orgasmic. It makes me think a bit of Meshuggah. It has a very rhythmic section that is sort of stop and go. The drums make me think call to arms/medieval battle again. Then a brief acoustic section. The Meshuggah bit again but now with vocals. This song is long so it’s good that it has all this. Despite how good the rest of the album has been, an 8 minute song would be too much. This song shows what they can do. It has the melody, the best solo on the CD, the acoustic bit, great vocals, everything. Then the song ends, with a ringing note sort of. It sounds good.
Recommended Tracks
Listen to the entire CD. That is my recommendation.
Review number II
I shall now update this review. I have decided that this is not a perfect album, but very, very close. A 4.5 is fitting. The onslaught of guitars and drums here is perfectly done. The blasting coming not only from the drums but also bass and guitars. The production quality is also top notch. The clarity is always perfect and the bassy pounding is never muddied. Listen to this loudly. It is a very inoffensive record to trained ears, having none of the grating found on Gorguts' Obscura and Nergal's vocals are easy to listen to as they rely heavily on a bassy tone that has more note than growl. As I said before, solos are lacking but it is no longer an issue of bad solos as it is one of... well... preference. This is possibly my favorite death metal album in that it is easy to listen to and very well done, but it lacks that strange twist I love all my music to have. Not to say this is unoriginal, it is just not super original, bordering on avant-garde.
As an update to what to listen to, Demigod and Conquer All are my current favorites although I've noticed I find something I like in each track. I also don't know what I was thinking in saying that the drummer could be better. Yeah, sure he could, but he is a great drummer and needs not be replaced ever. Also, my complaints of Nergals guitar playing are dumb. He could be better but is just fine and also, needs not be replaced. Sure, Muhammed Sucimez is better, but would he fit? I don't know and I don't really want to know. Hope this second review gives a better overall impression of the album.
