In what could likely prove to be 2005's premature ejaculation for best album, the Polish death/black metal hybrid professionals known as Behemoth have released an album whose musical and conceptual constituents break down the hapless walls that dare attempt to constrain them. And in possibly one of the feel-good stories of the year, this lack of compromise, paired with the biggest commercial push the band has ever been blessed with in their decade-plus existance (thanks to their home Olympic Records merging with Century Media), is seeing the band sell out venues and cause record numbers of jaws to drop Stateside; the toughest market to penetrate. But will Demigod be simply too extreme an album for larger segments of the popular hard music subculture to swallow Well, yes and no.
Behemoth could literally fly over people's heads with their elaborate lyrical concepts, ever-present and overlapping high/low pitch lead vocals, and incomprehensibly relentless drums, courtesy of skin wizard, Inferno. Appeal, however, could easily snowball with the unparalleled presence of guitar melody expelled at warp speeds. Speculation of increasing popularity aside, Demigod is an album that causes tension to build up within every nerve. From the tense acoustic intro of "Sculpting The Throne Ov Seth," to the trumpet-into-machine-gun-rhythm start of the album's title track, song structure is nothing less than of premium character for Behemoth. Brooding, mid-paced riffs in "Conquer All" and "The Nephilim Rising" lead to death blasts, back again, and then to grandiose solos that uses traditional notes, inducing a sense of nostalgia as quality black metal tends to do. Lengthy album closer 'The Reign Ov Shemsu-Hor," while being the only track that adheres remotely to normal tempos for its entire duration, is also one of the album's best, while providing a worthy flash of Behemoth's earlier incarnation.
I'm going to let the cat out of the bag and articulate the single most impressive element of this album: Primary songwriter Nergal's foresight to include the theoretical inspiration for each song's lyrics. In an age where servers compete with record labels of all statures, the CD artwork revolution of the nineties now draws more scoffs than awes, and in turn most bands and their label homes feel that they have reached the limit of options to appeal to the potential fan. Behemoth have broken through this seemingly impenetrable limit by putting such effort into the booklet, that whether Nergal is explaining his usage of warlike manifestos, Nietzche's The Antichrist, occult philosophy, or The Book of The Law, it is clear that the man and his band are a group possessed by drives not entirely of this earth. They perceive themselves to be a battle-ready machine which seeks to conquer the world with its music, and they have grown in strength over time like a true battalion. Be skeptical and call Behemoth delusional, but I see no chinks in their armor.
Bottom line: I'm not going to start in with the tired line of "if you're only planning on buying one metal album this year...," so I'll make it simpler by saying buy the album now and ask questions later. Demigod, along with their recent albums Zos Kia Cultus, Thelema.6, and Satanica, belong in the collection of everyone from extreme metal connoisseur to listener of all hard music. The relatively short songs prevent loss of attention span that some fans consider the bane of such thematic and often European-based metal bands. If you want to be blown away by intensity and musicianship, like many were when Morbid Angel blasted on to the scene, and you have not yet discovered Behemoth, now is the time. Accordingly, now is their time as well. |
