ROCKET REVIEW: BEHEMOTH – “The Satanist” (CD)

Polish extreme metal band BEHEMOTH have released The Satanist in 2014. It is the tenth studio album by the group which is led by enigmatic lead vocalist/guitarist Adam “Nergal” Darski. It was produced by Daniel Bergstrand, the Wiesławscy Brothers and the band. It starts off with the doomsday sounding “Blow Your Trumpets Gabriel” that I actually like more and more each time I listen to it. Next up is the rampaging “Furor Divinus” and “Messe Noire”. You get a killer guitar solo by Seth on the latter that gets two horns way up. The rhythm section of bassist “Orion” and drummer “Inferno” is out of this world good.

You are treated to an unrelenting blastbeat as the guitars plod away in frenetic perfection. You can feel the soul of Nergal’s voice on every track. This is a man who began a vicious battle with Leukemia in 2010 and overcame it two years later. The pain and suffering is palpable with each roar from him. It’s as if to say defiantly, “I am still standing on my two feet, breathing the same air as everyone else. You could not take me down!” Certainly Nergal’s past legal woes stemming from ripping up a bible on stage in Poland have made him much darker in later years, if that’s even possible. But combined with the fact that Nergal faced death and stared it in the face by beating the Leukemia one starts to believe that perhaps he is invincible. He sure sounds like it on this album. Holy shit!

Next up is the absolutely beguiling “Ora Pro Nobis Lucifer” and my personal favorite “Amen”, followed by the album’s title track, “The “Satanist”, that is a pure masterwork. The track “In the Absence ov Light” contains the haunting spoken word written by Witold Gombrowicz: “I reject all order, all ideas / I trust no abstraction, no doctrine / I don’t believe in god, nor in mind / Forget all gods! I don’t believe in God. Give me man!” In short, this is some extreme heavy metal that needs to be played multiple times to totally be digested properly.

This is without a doubt a much more raw BEHEMOTH. Their frightening black/death assault continues on
the final track “O Father O Satan O Sun!” From top to bottom, I am afraid this album delivers beyond my wildest expectations. It is complex but unflinching in its ability to just rock hard.

ROCKET REVIEW:
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BEHEMOTH – “The Satanist” (CD)
(Metal Blade Records/2014)

1. Blow Your Trumpets Gabriel
2. Furor Divinus
3. Messe Noire
4. Ora Pro Nobis Lucifer
5. Amen
6. The Satanist
7. Ben Sahar
8. In the Absence ov Light
9. O Father O Satan O Sun!

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