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Rating: The Behemoth is a band that needs no introduction, active since 1991, they have managed to create (obviously together with other seminal bands such as Vader) a solid Polish scene by exploring extreme metal very thoroughly in a very personal way, initially offering a cold, atmospheric Black Metal before sharply turning towards an increasingly technical Death Metal.
This "Sventevith (Storming Near the Baltic)" is nothing but their debut album, dated 1995, featuring exclusively raw and cold Black Metal as taught by the Norwegian school. It's crazy to think that such a CD was born in Poland, rather than the more canonical (for the time) Norway since the characteristic traits that distinguish this work are strictly Scandinavian.
Thus, if listening to the first notes of "Chant of the Eastern Lands" feels like playing "In the Nightside Eclipse" by Emperor, the following tracks pleasantly echo with the sounds of Darkthrone ("From the Pagan Vastlands"), early Dimmu Borgir ("Hidden in a Fog"), and the major Norwegian bands in general.
The tracks flow by immersing the listener in a snowstorm, revealing themselves to be very strong and well-structured; never a drop in tone or a yawn, on the contrary, the melodies of each song strike very positively, always spot-on and never predictable or banal, skillfully blended with more fast-paced parts. The listening experience is also interspersed with short, very evocative instrumental pieces that fit perfectly among the gems that compose it. It should be noted, however, that the epic vein that will characterize the subsequent "Grom" is not yet as pronounced here, but it is definitely very influential.
Moving on to the production, it is, of course, very raw but in my opinion, there couldn’t be a better production for a work of this kind, capable of creating an atmosphere that gives you goosebumps.
In essence, this is not just a debut album, but the first masterpiece of this incredible band, with many more to follow, laying the foundation for the subsequent CDs, at least until the Death Metal shift. All the songs are Black Metal classics and should all be remembered... however, songs like "From the Pagan Vastlands," "Hidden in a Fog," "Entering the Faustian Soul," and "Forgotten Cult of Aldaron" are really ahead!!
My advice to all Black Metal lovers is to buy this CD without a second thought, and you will see that you will not be disappointed at all!
Tracklist and Lyrics
03 From the Pagan Vastlands (04:30)
From the land which hasn't enter yet
Into the history
From the depths of swamps we are bringing
Proudly our name
At night, kissing the moonlight -
- rebel children living in twilight
Like wolves...
... some named us so...
Union with people from the sign
Of the half-moon
To crush the golden walls of
Earthly heaven,
To strangle the pestilence...
To the lands of the mighty Empire
Others even think about with fear
We invaded a state with sword
In our hands
Roma means nothing
In the land of Slavs !
Today forests sing about the legend,
Long forgotten spirits
Whose names nobody remembers now
Waiting their day to reborn
Their visions of the past
Are torturing our souls
Whispering in the dark...
... they will come here again
To reign supreme
Believe my words...
From unremembrance
From Fire and Water
From the sacred woods
Ancient Wolves gather
From the burnt Arkona
... From the Pagan Vastlands !
Black horse rides across the sky
With a sword we will open the amber gates of Nawia
Dzieci Svantevitha nienawidza Chrystusa !!!
Dzieci Svantevitha nienawidza boga-krzyza !!!
04 Hidden in a Fog (06:49)
(Music by Nergal, lyrics by Tomas Krajewski)
Night in the mountains comes with the fly of a raven
Carpathians bathed in the light of the moon
In old ruins where the dying shadows
Are watching the shine from the stars
Nobody remembers days of glory
Several hundreds years passed in silence
Not a soul has been seen here
I am standing on a hill
So silent is the sky
I am drinking the cold of this night
Old grey wolf lying upon my feet
Is licking the hand of mine
It is night...in my heart
It is moon...in my eyes
I am hidden in a fog- my own breath
Small village in a valley
Sleeping in a fear, in a fear of me!
Loathsome race of the mortals
magic of wolfish teethes, wings of bats
Faithful guards of religion
Old as the blood itself
The cult of the undead
Vampirism
Frenzy of lust, frenzy of pain
She was only fourteen
No cry has burst from her lips
Pity that she had to die
but how sweet was her neck
It is night...in my heart
It is moon...in my eyes
I am hidden in a fog
My own breath
Sometimes only my anthem of triumph
Echoes in mountains landscape
Like blood from thorn opened arteries
Poison flows down the tongue
Somewhere far away a howling can be heard
Oh, how beautiful is the night in Transylvania!
Frenzy of lust, frenzy of pain
Blood is life...ETERNAL!
06 Entering the Faustian Soul (05:35)
... With a little fear I kiss the moonlight
How exciting is the thought
About having a taste of your kingdom
Which wakes up to life, at night...
When the servants carry me to the gates of Helevorn
Dreams about unlimited dimensions
Float over Thy Golden Palace
Snowcovered majesty, damned
In nocturnal solitude I pace, deeper into virgin forest
Among sadness and depressive thoughts
Visit firmaments of dead nature
In the glare of black mirror, asleep
Forgotten temples of gods (of forests)
Welcoming the son of godly Teuton, father of fathers
The source of the deepest darkness and magic
The mightiest emperor, cammrad of war
With blessings I join the caravan of my brothers
Like a thunder I strike into the Jehova�s armies
I dance with holocauststorms in this battle
I set the holy fire of aurora borealis
This fire, this flame, this redness, live forever...
07 Forgotten Cult of Aldaron (04:35)
Since a long time I've visited those old dungeons
I spilled the first blood in the depth
In the darkness of the forest�s maze
I found her, morbid beauty
I used to spend whole days
In the mystic places of Delduwath
There, where the light of the halfmoon
Fell as the dying sun
The wolf�s howling was lulling to sleep
My young soul...
How beautiful were the views of nocturnal land
How wonderful was the life in complete solitude
Away from villages and towns, mansions and palaces
The last moments give birth to memories in me
Who was that beauty, majestic and great
What were those views, beautifully gilded by leaves
Which were hiding behind them so many mystic wefts
They stole my solitude and independence
I lie crushed by the chains in a wet cell, bleeding
I am awaiting for mother, the last hope, death
Let the died out fire away in me, let it awake Aldaron
Black gusts of dust covered my divine person with their arms
The gates of nature for ages dead, opened themselves
Tears of soil filled the green valleys
Naked Carpathian mountains denudated its might
Rights which created this world
With fury strike heaven, pearly gates
The dark powers of nature unleashed veritable war
The last breaths of sun falling onto the snow
Turned into the scream of the dying light...
08 Wolves Guard My Coffin (04:29)
(Music by Nergal, lyrics by Nergal)
Delightful night...
When the fullmoon lights cemetery’s valley
Winds of frost strike my tomb
When I am in eternal sleep
When wild storms dwell
Wind blows through the Baltic
Instincts unleash the war inside
And strike the sky with holocausthunder
Mountains sleep, the forest
Covers freezing land where I was born
Now I walk among the castles
Watch the streams of frozen tears
Spilled with blood of forefathers
Nightbreeze feed my spiritual form
And spirits gather, floating on the mist
My eastern empires spread the wings of winter
Visions of destruction, ruins and tragedies
Tasting pure sin, fade into the pit
And walk through my beloved, endless woods...
I summon all the beauty Evil
To rape the bodies of your disciples
Too long I hide in the shades of woods...
And now I build my beauty Hall
Wallachian tyrant, I bring a winter
I come with frost and burning hate
Follow the Gods of Eastern lands
Being the battle which blows the earth
09 Hell Dwells in Ice (05:50)
There was only one long and terrible winter
Where icy blackness covered the sun and the grass
Dethroned light ended its existence
Hell brought there all thunders and winds
All the blasphemy from the four sides of the world
Gods have forgotten this land, where fear
Caught the throat with the bony hand
And the wolf howled gloomy song of cold, frost and hunger...
The lakes enslaved in hard icy shackles
Wild trees covered the happy world
Which will never wake up again !
Life has affected a new form here
Through the icy vastlands run wild
Hordes of wolves, moonless night, that's all
Moon is covered with fresh meat, threw by the hungry hordes
10 Transylvanian Forest (04:53)
Pure paganism I worship in the woods
Forest's mountains never saw by human eye
Kingdom of the ancient and horned evil
Covered by golden wood and black thorns
My armor like a bark of old oak
I rape my wounds and blood flows down to the ground
Covered by the snow naked crowns of trees
Like crying mothers Slavonic worshippers
Pagan warriors hide in frozen wood
Like black statues born in the heart of winterevil
Ride on the thunders and moonstorms
Where the land is open for full witching moon
Mouth kiss the leaves fallen in the past
Fingers touch the frozen land
Pagan fears fall down on icy skin
Wild eyes filled with darkred blood
Are staring into depths of virgin forest
Where my grave on unholy land
Covered by the snow...
Winds carry me through Transylvania
Virgin evil hidden in the blackest heart
I joined the ceremony of wolves
Where unsilent gods sit high on their goathrones
Now the majesty is ready for pure holocaust
The feast of Babylon whore and her wolf
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