Polish blackened death metal band BEHEMOTH adds another burning hot collection of songs to their already legendary resume with, “Evangelion”, which means “Good News” in Greek. It’s the act’s ninth studio album in fourteen years and easily the most compelling. The first track is entitled “Daimonos”, a Greek word that the actual term “Demon” is deriven from, ultimately meaning: “A lesser god, guiding spirit, or tutelary deity (sometimes including souls of the dead), and effectively starts off with singer/guitarist Nergal’s frightening as-all-hell roar that would surely be enough to scare a Nun out of her frock, if he was standing anywhere within one thousand yards of her. Though “Evangelion” itself is known for representing the biblical period where Jesus died on the cross… followed by his resurrection, this album starts out from the gate sounding pissed as all hell!
The powerful vocalist bellows on track two‘s even more extreme sounding “Shemaforash“: “He Consumed by tongues ov fire, Burning like Phlogiston (an ancient Greek term, first stated in 1667 by Johann Joachim Becher, now a defunct scientific theory that posited the existence of a “fire-like” element called “phlogiston” that was contained within combustible bodies, and released during ones combustion!), Holy gardens reduced to ash, Extinguishing light ov hope, Bringing the end ov the days.” Yes, first time listeners of this music will probably not believe the fact that Nergal (born Adam Darski) actually is a raised Catholic. I must say that the lead guitar solo work here (from either second guitarist Seth or Nergal himself) is nothing short of brilliant, climbing in its all-out blazing glory, faster and faster, until the band concludes their blood-caked on the walls assault with a slowed-up Egyptian sounding piece at the very end.
The next few tracks take us even deeper into the group’s dark world of utterly heart-pounding brutalness with “Ov Fire And The Void. According to different text versions of the bible, after being baptized, Jesus fasted for forty days and nights in the desert. During this time, the devil appeared to Jesus and tempted him to demonstrate his supernatural powers as proof of his divinity, each temptation being refused by Jesus with a quote of scripture. The Gospels state that having failed, the devil departed and angels came and brought nourishment to Jesus. Perhaps this moment is what is referenced in Nergal‘s haunting words: “I the Sun ov man, The offspring ov the stellar race, My halo fallen and crushed upon the earth, That I may bring balance to this world, I son ov perdition, From sheer nothingness transgressed, Unto the highest self — to utmost freedom, To explore the starry nature ov my rage.”
Track four‘s “Transmigrating Beyond Realms Ov Amenti” is my personal favorite to this point of the record, mainly due in part to the crushing blast beat from drummer Inferno (born Zbigniew Robert Promiński), next tied to the simply brooding “He Who Breeds Pestilence”. However, oddly enough they save the most rocking for track number ‘6’, named “The Seed Ov I”, jamming it up with one of the meanest, most fret burning sonic escapades of their career. The album concludes with Behemoth coming off more Death metal inspired than Black it seems, with the corrupting “Alas, Lord Is Upon Me”, “Defiling Morality Ov Black God”, and the final track titled “Lucifer”, which honestly made me stand up and applaud for their greatness.
ROCKET REVIEW:
[starreview tpl=16]
BEHEMOTH
“Evangelion” (CD)
(Metal Blade Records/2009)
1.Daimonos
2. Shemaforash
3. Ov Fire And The Void
4. Transmigrating Beyond Realms Ov Amenti
5. He Who Breeds Pestilence
6. The Seed Ov I
7. Alas, Lord Is Upon Me
8. Defiling Morality Ov Black God
9. Lucifer
Behemoth are NOT Satanists. They are against religion but promote individualism and self-empowerment, not devil worship.
As I understand it, they’re not Satanic as in the literal sense that they do indeed actually worship Satan. The band uses the imagery of Satanism as more of an affront to Christianity. Either way you look at it – this is one helluva great work of art that forces this whole interesting discussion of good versus evil upon us all.