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Rating: Behemoth is a Polish extreme metal group, formed in 1991 as a black metal band. They achieved critical and industry success when, with the 1999 album "Satanica," they shifted towards a very personal blackened death metal that in subsequent albums evolved by increasing the technical rate, production quality, becoming increasingly death and less black.
In 2014, Behemoth released their tenth album, "The Satanist," five years after "Evangelion" (good but perhaps a little predictable).
The most striking feature of the album at first listen is certainly the significant return of purely black metal riffs present in almost all the tracks, which had almost completely disappeared in recent albums. The mix between death and black here is carried out skillfully and never seems to be a cut and paste of their works from the early '00s.
Another advantage, besides the crystal-clear production, a trademark of the band, is the great variety of the tracks; in addition to the classic Behemoth-style outbursts ("Amen", "Furor Divinus"), there are more paced tracks ("Blow Your Trumpets Gabriel", "The Satanist"), pieces with almost atmospheric sections, also created through the introduction of unusual instruments for the band such as synths and brass, and a fantastic instrumental interlude in "In The Absence Ov Light" sung in Polish.
Closing the album, we find the track that perhaps best encapsulates the spirit of the album, "O Father, O Satan, O Sun!", which in seven minutes incorporates practically all the aforementioned sounds without ever seeming redundant and constantly keeping the listener's attention alive.
With "The Satanist," Behemoth perhaps reach the highest point of their career, crafting an original and varied album both in the individual tracks and as a whole, which takes the band to a new level of quality and demonstrates once and for all how this group knows how to evolve without ever losing their essence.
9/10
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
02 Modern Iconoclasts (04:24)
The centuries ov woe have passed away
With eternal youth at my command I unleash hell!
Cast out ov Egypt were we, with lust embraced serpentine heart
Our wrath shalt now shower o'er the earth
Praise to thee, whose tongue doth speak fire
Dionisos, Orpheus, Attis, Osiris
Slain now resurrected, shackled now released
Bring forth ecstasy, the ulmost delight
Come wholly to me as lifes' water is poured by thy side
'twas from sacred society not mother we were spawned
To manifest by Will alone our visions, more it be!
We are the khaos warriors
The architects ov fate
Our sight sees far beyond
The light of the day
Our thoughts secluded well
Amidst the darkness of night
Shall be no final warning
Before our battle cry!
Breathe out in ecstasy, swallow the seed of truth
Transgression is the might, transgression is the key
This is the law of scourge, the EYE ov true revenge
Placing trust upon our blade against ignorance
Dionisos, Orpheus, Attis, Osiris
Slain now resurrected, shackled now released
Hear is crippled souls, behold is ye blind fools
Awake in fear and feel the touch ov bitter bliss
Its no time for repenting, its time to kiss our swords
We are the new beginning, we light our torch ov war
We are the kaos warriors
Modern iconoclast
Cleansers, lurking, waiting
To conquer the universe
We are all and without equal
Our fists crush the concrete walls
Our hearts infused with rage
In freedom our souls burn
Conquered we can be not
Our fate 'tis fueled by forces
Awakening to herald
The dawn of New Aeon rites
03 Here and Beyond (03:25)
Arrived we to the days ov our beginning
To the City ov God clothed with the mists
Enslaved by life we danced spinning
In the taverns of time we used to sit
And drunk with memories
Dead moments glorified
I saw the phantoms ov Golgotha
Legion Legion
Fed on dust ov dead
Anoited by the grey ash
Mad, twisted mob ov Jerusalem
Then Raphael beyond me and night appear'd
Bent and The Word was announc'd
An archangelic grreting (Jetzirah! Jetzirah!)
The sign ov Portal, reality ov nature
Not to be, but to become
In aimless wandering across the time
On the sea ov possibilities untouched I stood
From my hand cracked heaven idols are falling to the pieces
Reached the horizon
Dagger in the air
Sylphs work is done
Oracles ov past aeons fulfill'd
Live we on the edge ov the worlds
In titanic turn ov time
Here and beyond
Carried on the wings ov the sun
Infinite, sacred power we call
And sight hardly can catch the moment ov eternity
When drink with light
In light we will live
And in the formless rapture
Will we sing psalm ov Might
The last spell ov Will:
"We are one
We are none!"
05 Blackest ov the Black (03:41)
From beyond all paths ov man I drew my rules
Infamous among gods and low I did fall
And the earth hath cried aloud
Hark! For enraged winds and storms now awaken
Now see me naked, yet draped in flames
My pent fury to unleash upon men
Ov khaos I am, the disobediant one
Depraved son who hath dwellt in nothingness
Upon the ninth I fell, from grace up above
To taste this life ov sin, to give birth to the "I"
I didst create demigods, strong in will and deed
That they may stand proud and call out thy names
How dare thou cross the paths ov mine
And leave my fallen sons behind
Oh, I shall feast in Gutter, as king ov nothing
I shall feed on thee, the Mightiest One
Behold! For I am Him!
Life giving flower that belongst to the dawn
Hear...
Feel...
Pray...
Kneel...
No holiness rules over my freedom
No commands from above I obey
I seek the ruin, I shake the worlds
Behold! I am blackest ov the black
Ov khaos I am, the disobediant one
Depraved son who hath dwellt in nothingness
Upon the ninth I fell, from grace up above
To taste this life ov sin, to give birth to the "I"
06 Hekau 718 (00:42)
A ka dua tuf ur biu
Bi a chefu dudu ner af an nuteru
Kha her nest af ur ar uatu an ba an khu an kha
Au aper ku khu am aper
08 No Sympathy for Fools (03:48)
FOOLS! I cast you all aside!
Your bullets harm me not
I am heresy, blazing hell
The embodiment ov all you fear
I am all which you can never be
A truth revealing hate machine
No longer will I tolerate
Lies from a kingdom built on dread
Yet what if naught exists above?
No shining glory and no god
You question not, blindly believe
Upon your ignorance I shall feast
Damn higher virtues, divine love
Your wooden idols and your law
Kneel before your god yet do not see
He doth feel you lies
Blinds you with fear
Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth
Your hearts I shall tear
With paws ov truth
With slashing jaws I rape
Your feeble womb
No god exists to save you from thy doom
You will never see the light!
Bound to always live by lies!
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Other reviews
By The_Bassist
A masterpiece of heavy death boasting a perfectly fitting opening that gently invites you to maintain a regular headbanging rhythm.
Novy, one of the most skilled and creative bassists of Brutal, is NOT HEARD on this CD, and as a devotee of the supreme art of the electric bass, I cannot tolerate it!
