Behemoth
Evangelion

THE REVIEW

I have wanted to review this album for a long time. But I waited for it to settle well in my mind before expressing a complete opinion about it, unlike apparently others; also because this is not one of those “flash-in-the-pan” bands that release a “decent” record, that enters the charts as swiftly as lightning and then disappears into oblivion just as quickly. No. We are talking about Behemoth here, one of the names in the Death Metal scene that, in the opinion of (almost) everyone, will enter history alongside greats like Morbid Angel, Obituary, etc.
Therefore, one cannot and should not be superficial in judging them, or rather, in expressing opinions that could be debatable or at least labeled as too light, as I've recently read even in this space.

I’ll say it straight away, to clear up any confusion and not be branded as cowardly: I liked this album a lot. Certainly more than the previous “The Apostasy,” which was already an incredible blow to the ears of whoever listened to it. I find that the numerous cuts made during the recording sessions regarding samples, orchestrations, and other accompaniments, although present as they should be, and the decision to restore the right weight to classical instruments, emphasized by a somewhat more “raw” production, was a decision that completely paid off. Of course, there's no confusion: the sound produced in “Evangelion” is 100% Behemoth and no one can dispute it. What has been enhanced, or perhaps it would be better to say “extremized”, are the performances primarily of Nergal, who in songs like “Shemhamforash” and “Transmigrating Beyond Realms ov Amenti” manages to give his best, exposing the band’s primary influences, which fundamentally base their catalog on the most uncompromising Black Metal, and subsequently molds and distorts it for their own purposes, turning it towards a Death Metal full of technicalities and contaminated with catacombal and dark moods. In this sense, I believe the drumming work of Inferno represents the apotheosis of the war machine that Behemoth has become.
Inferno: a drummer who has nothing to envy compared to the likes of Hellhammer and Nicholas Barker. Precise, fast, powerful, and who doesn’t miss a beat, mentor of the complex sound architectures proposed here, intricate and always balanced between excessive ferocity and oriental melodic openings, which constitute a recognizably distinct backbone in the band’s sound.

This is an album that has an “almost” immediate attitude for those accustomed to the genre, and perhaps will represent a “must” for the years to come. Surely today, however, it is the clearest example of the perfection achieved by the band. Of the nine proposed tracks, none represents filler content. Every single chord was studied, put on a pentagram, and venomously spit in its precise role, with furious and acrobatic assaults that can spin your head (“He Who Breeds Pestilence” and “Defiling Morality ov Black God”, for example) and episodes of broader, more spectral breadth, like “Ov Fire and the Void” slow, heavy, and hypnotic yet not for this less evil or, to please Nergal for sure, less blasphemous. Additionally, this was the song chosen to act as a forerunner to the entire album, and whose video entered the Guinness world records for the speed with which it was censored, making sure to hide the private parts of the actors employed there, as well as the angel, truthfully not very asexual and androgynous, chosen as a “snack” by the band members.
However, going back to the content, I can state that the peak of what this album wants to express, according to the writer, is reached with the monumental and epic “Lucifer”, which beyond the certainly cheesy and unoriginal title, through the verses of Tadeusz Micinski, a Polish poet, generates a sonic and dramatic tension that has few, very few equals and once again demonstrates the great talent and now affirmed originality of Behemoth's proposition.

Yet if all of this is not enough to convince you that we are faced with work that has very few rivals in its field, then I wouldn’t know what to tell you; perhaps advising you to turn towards other shores. After all, we are in a democracy, and no one stops you from listening to and enjoying excellent examples like Ulcerate or Decrepit Birth (which have nothing to do with the reviewed proposition, I understand that too), provided that you certainly are not angry and sterile kids who must be selective, necessarily eliminating what has been done well so far and deservedly by Behemoth, and which I think I can affirm with certainty, fully legitimate.
So enjoy listening, and remember to turn up the volume.