Review Summary: I Fucking Hate This World
Beherit return over 15 years after their seminal release Drawing Down The Moon. I must say I had my doubts over the band reforming, being as usually a band does not fair well after being away from a genre for over a decade. Beherit have not suffered. This album is one of the best I have heard from this genre in a long time, completely unexpected given the bands other output, and in general a breath of fresh air. The production alone pretty much allows this album to stand out from the thousands over other black metal releases we get thrown at us every year. For those who do not know Beherit, a small (and by no means complete) recap of the bands notoriety. They are attributed with pushing and experimenting with the black metal sound, especially the album Drawing Down The Moon, considered a classic and cornerstone of the genre. Well this album has potential to follow Drawing Down The Moons path.
The album is based on repetitive and driving guitars bass and drums. This is the foundation for all other work, and the riffing is very good. The fact that the bass is mixed very high gives the string instruments a very low tone (down-tuned is very possible too) and the crushing guitars sound almost like out of a death metal album. I couldn't believe this was the same band that had thin trebly guitars on previous releases. Drums blast along monotonously, mostly cymbals are heard along with snare and kick a little bit lower in the mix. The riffing itself surprisingly suited for headbanging and incorporates slight touches of other metal genres such as thrash and death metal.
What I have described above would already make a satisfactory black metal album that could easily be one of the stand outs of the year. But Beherit add several nice enhancements to their sound to keep things interesting. The keyboard lines in Axiom Heroine give a unique atmosphere, more akin to earlier Beherit that featured more mysterious sounds and textures than this album usually produces. The chants in All In Satan are another atmospheric touch that is used sparsely, and hence has that much more effect when used. With Pagan Moon we see yet another side with a clean intro of around 1:30 minutes that yet again adds another dimension to this album.
Vocals also bring the best of the old and some new tricks. The haunting reverb of earlier works is gone, yet old staccato style can be heard on sons like Destroyer Of Thousand Worlds. Choir (probably keyboard layer along with cleans) in Pimeyden Henki is another turn the album takes to engage the listener. The bulk of the songs' is generally consistent throughout the album, yet standout moments really occur in every song and pack quite a punch, personally I found the choir vocals nothing short of brilliant.
This album proves that a scene which is stagnating (and which I gave up on) can still produce fresh new ideas, and still has areas to explore and perfect. The trend of ***ty production and even ***tier riffing arrangement is thrown out the door. The production here is fairly clean without losing any edge of aggression to cleanliness. The album almost reminds me of a Hangman's Hymn type record, every song has roots in metal but some incorporate beyond the genre barriers while staying true to the bands sound. Quite the come back from Beherit, look out for this album, it's a mandatory listen for metalheads in 2009.
