Style: Blackened death metal
Primary Emotions/Themes:
Thoughts: "And god calls that day... my holy day..."
The last words spoken before a merciless riff comes in and forces me to headbang against my will. The lead guitar mirrors the melody from an ancient Egyptian scroll lost to time. The beast has been summoned and it's name is Behemoth.
This is the album where Behemoth found their mid period sound. They have essentially dropped all the traditional black metal from the early albums and have fully embraced their death metal progression and interwoven it with black metal riffing and melodies. The final result is quite a formidable, if forgettable album.
I used to be much more fond of this album than I am now. The thing kicked my ass so hard when I was younger I had no real response to it. Inferno's drumming was among the best I had ever heard, Nergal's vocals and riff work were so chaotic and menacing that I thought this was the peak of extreme metal for a time.
As the years have gone on though more albums have come out, and Behemoth has not held up as well for me as other bands. When I spin this now I have fond memories, but a lot of the time I find myself getting bored after a few songs.
That said, there are quite a few excellent racks on here. The opener Horns ov Baphomet is truly excellent as is As Above So Below. So many of the other tracks start to lose me almost immediately. Modern Iconoclasts loses me after the initial riff, the remainder of the song sounds almost bored despite the incredibly fast blasting involved. The same thing happens with Blackest ov the Black, the riffs don't grab me.
Even as I'm writing this I want to swap the record out for something else, I've heard the best that this one has to offer and I would rather listen to Demigod when I'm honest about it. This is an interesting album for its place in history, but its not one I find myself listening to often.
Written May 9th 2024
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