Behemoth
The Shit Ov God


2.3
average

Review

by Benjamin Jack STAFF
May 11th, 2025 | 114 replies


Release Date: 05/09/2025 | Tracklist

Review Summary: Jesus, Crack The Window

Behemoth’s gradual devolution from reliably consistent black metal stalwarts into a much-memed edgelord sideshow has been a grim thing to witness. Frontman Nergal’s increasingly theatrical antics have chipped away at the band’s once (begrudgingly) respectable image, and this dainty collection is another temple-scratcher to bore a few extra holes into an already listing hull. It’s genuinely somewhat baffling that 2014’s The Satanist and the ludicrously titled The Sh*t Ov God are albums recorded by the same band. Where the former was a grand, serious and surprisingly accessible piece of work, the latter continues with the metaphorical bible-tearing and juvenile tomfoolery with the gleeful air of that one kid in school eating grass to impress no one in particular.

I had a few acquaintances in middle school who claimed they worshipped the devil, presumably after doing their multiplication table homework. Their social status? They sat in the corner of the playground painting their faces with mud and penning hit lists during break time. These are the vibes that Sh*t is releasing into the world; noxious as methane and as predictable as encountering it in a public toilet. Beneath the jet engine level blastbeats and cavernous reverb lies an exceptionally mundane and toe-scrunchingly cringey core; an edge so fine even the slightest touch destroys it like an insect’s wing. Full disclosure: I’ve never been a dyed-in-the-wool apostate, but even I know blasphemy isn’t supposed to be this dull.

Regardless, off we march: dirt-streaked heathens into the jaws of a raging holy war. Oh, what a glorious sight it be! Our battle song? A compilation of farts so relentless it’d make the founders of CollegeHumour shed a proud tear. It’s a fetid contraption powered by UGHHHHs, ARRRGHHHs, and to some extent, EEEEEEs, with flatlining guitars and rumbling percussion belching unceremoniously out of its bowels. Misanthropic retching straight from the Planet’s F*cked Fam school of subtlety leads the charge, punctuated by some bizarrely chipper singalong choruses that make you wonder if you’ve accidentally stumbled into a school assembly hymn… albeit one where everyone’s got inverted crucifixes drawn on their foreheads.

Tracks like ‘The Shadow Elite’, ‘Lvciferaeon’ and the title cut are corny, overlong exercises in monotony. ‘The Shadow Elite’ in particular, with a title sounding like a PS1-era lightgun shooter, expects engagement with the egregiously dumb mantra we are the shadow elite, and even typing that out made my eye muscles start to spasm again. ‘O Venvs, Come!’ has a moment of beseeching frenzy during its typically bloated runtime that could potentially have given the track some intensity were the surrounding material not so bland. Instead of transmitting urgency, the segue has the unfortunate air of doing too much; earnest to the point of self-parody and shrill to the point of tinnitus.

While this review may read like a reaction from someone recently exposed to their first black metal album after a lifetime of listening to nothing but country, Sh*t is the unfortunate poster child for this completely justified point of view. Admittedly, some cuts do start with relative promise, but most riffs lose impact very rapidly once it becomes impossible to ignore how basic they are, and the fidelity of the production does little to afford any additional power. The archetypical ‘wall of sound’ technique might dazzle on a first listen, but once the polish wears off the songwriting offers little to retain attention.

‘Nomen Barbarvm’, (possibly Latin for a firm-but-fair parental admonishment telling young Barbara she isn’t ready to start dating yet), features a riff so simplistic that it’ll be etched into your brain like the underside desk carvings of my devil-worshipping schoolmates once its five minutes are over. Even on occasions where the musicianship picks up, on the solo of ‘Lvciferaeon’, for instance, the surrounding musical landscape does so little to prop up the effort, ultimately allowing the semi-successful elements to float aimlessly in a vacuum of gravelly silliness and half-baked songwriting. None of it may be offensively awful, but it’s almost uniformly generic and often unintentionally hilarious.

Behemoth’s previously compelling blend of theatricality and blackened intensity is pushed to farcical extremes on Sh*t. What once felt like bold provocation now resembles parody: extremity turned into cartoon, accessibility into laziness. The entire project seeps this immature bile from every aural orifice, every potentially powerful moment undermined by garish missteps or adolescent posturing. As a continuation of their legacy, The Sh*t Ov God is creatively underwhelming and oddly toothless, offering nothing they haven’t done before- only this time, with all the impact sanded down. With Nergal and the bois’ reputations far exceeding the reach of their music at this point, it’s disappointing that more effort hasn’t been made on Sh*t to justify their infamy in a more meaningful way. Instead, listeners are presented with a painfully flat and molar-grindingly cringey black metal trudge, fit to burst with noise but painfully short on innovation, memorability or entertainment value. It seems God’s got a bit of an upset tummy.



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user ratings (96)
2.8
good


Comments:Add a Comment 
PumpBoffBag
Staff Reviewer
May 11th 2025


1839 Comments

Album Rating: 2.3

Every day we stray further

Hawks
Contributing Reviewer
May 11th 2025


106128 Comments

Album Rating: 2.5

The shit ov men is being spread!!!!

NexCeleris
Staff Reviewer
May 11th 2025


2273 Comments

Album Rating: 2.0

Another case of an excellent Boff rev following an equally excellent Row rev. Mud fight when?

"a title sounding like a PS1-era lightgun shooter" and the Nomen Barbarvm pun got me good.

ScuroFantasma
Emeritus
May 11th 2025


12722 Comments


Great review, fun read. This is certainly pretty lacklustre unfortunately. My initial impressions weren’t too bad, having expected worse, but my estimation hasn’t grown since then either. I honestly even really liked Contra Naturum so this is a massive letdown.

Maco097
May 11th 2025


3362 Comments


I'll rather listen to Sventevith

Dedes
Contributing Reviewer
May 12th 2025


11743 Comments

Album Rating: 2.5 | Sound Off

Good review my guy

Honestly I tried to set aside the title/goofy lyricism since it's essentially the same ideology they've peddaled for years just in a far too on-the-nose fashion, bit beneath all that is still kind of dull riffs and even a less intricate drum performance than usual (which I always found to be the draw moreso than Nergals vocals). I actually am somewhat impressed by Nergal himself still having some bite but that unfortunately that bite seems to have rabies which has clearly gotten to his brain.

Sharenge
May 12th 2025


6260 Comments


so god's pee is alright but his shit is where you draw the line, got it

YuriZakhaev
May 12th 2025


1161 Comments

Album Rating: 2.5

First paragraph is brutal lmao, can't wait to listen

DaveyMonsoon
May 12th 2025


1642 Comments


The Hvge Pvtrid Caca Ov God

DrGonzo1937
Staff Reviewer
May 12th 2025


18687 Comments

Album Rating: 2.5

Excellent stuff. Thorough and very fair review, pump.

PumpBoffBag
Staff Reviewer
May 12th 2025


1839 Comments

Album Rating: 2.3

Thanks one and all, much too kind

Scuro/ Dedes everything about this is undoubtedly on-brand for them but it seems to unintentionally lean into the goofiness at every opportunity. I may even not have minded that so much if the music itself showcased some development within the usual BM tropes but every facet works to the detriment of the other elements. Genuinely the first Behemoth album where I’ve not enjoyed a single song

@sharenge aha that album censored the word though. If it were Shit Ov G_d it’d be a solid 5

Gnocchi
Staff Reviewer
May 12th 2025


18452 Comments

Album Rating: 2.7

Lush.

Scheumke
May 12th 2025


2853 Comments

Album Rating: 3.0

Honestly didn't hate this, kinda preffered it over their last two. The cringe-factor is what's holding it back but on first listen I found it actually kinda catchy?

Flugmorph
May 12th 2025


35324 Comments


has good songs yeah

Blizzink
May 12th 2025


266 Comments


Fake album you'd see in an early-oughts computer game starting area

WretchedCacophony
May 12th 2025


3561 Comments


without even listening this is probably more like a 2.4

mindleviticus
May 12th 2025


10819 Comments


This can't be real

Christbait
May 12th 2025


1109 Comments

Album Rating: 2.0 | Sound Off

Summary made me chuckle hard. It's such a great encapsulation of what this album and Nerdgal, in general, tries and fails to do: be serious, be on-the-nose, be holier than thou. This sucks at being any of the three.

Rowhaus
May 12th 2025


6843 Comments

Album Rating: 3.0

Splendid write-up good sir! Eloquently and comedically touches on this record's myriad of problems. Looks like I enjoyed it slightly more, but I think most would agree this is pretty far removed from their prime material. I'm not optimistic they'll reach those heights again, but there's always hope m/

alamo
May 12th 2025


5932 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

is this camp



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