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Behemoth - The Satanist review



Reviewer:
6.0

1013 users:
8.47
Band: Behemoth
Album: The Satanist
Release date: February 2014


Disc I
01. Blow Your Trumpets Gabriel
02. Furor Divinus
03. Messe Noire
04. Ora Pro Nobis Lucifer
05. Amen
06. The Satanist
07. Ben Sahar
08. In The Absence Ov Light
09. O Father O Satan O Sun!
10. Ludzie Wschodu [Siekiera cover] [Australian bonus]

Disc II [DVD] [deluxe box set version]
01. Live Barbarossa
    1 - Intro
    2 - Ov Fire And The Void
    3 - Demigod
    4 - Moonspell Rites
    5 - Conquer All
    6 - Christians To The Lions
    7 - The Seed Ov I
    8 - Alas, Lord Is Upon Me
    9 - Decade Of ΘΕΡΙΟΝ
    10 - At The Left Hand Ov God
    11 - Slaves Shall Serve
    12 - Chant For ΕΣΧΗΑΤΟΝ 2000
    13 - 23 (The Youth Manifesto)
    14 - Lucifer
02. The Satanist: Oblivion

Not too many bands could throw a spoken-word, Kenny G sax muzak thing into the middle of a song called "In The Absence Ov Light" and not get laughed away into obscurity. Behemoth can get away with shit like that. They're just too cool to be dismissed. They sound cool and, with a theatrical sense that rivals well over half a Lady Gaga, they LOOK cool. I mean, I'm not gay, but I'd let Nergal and Orion double team me if they still want to.

The Satanist hasn't changed any of that. The already slightly precarious balance between their style and the substance of their music has changed. Since Thelema they've been making some of the most vicious and furious blackened, anti-Christian death metal around, all with an extravagant dramatic flair. With Evangelion they started emphasizing the evil mood creation bits and the ambient bits of their tunes more than they had before. And that wasn't necessarily a bad thing when it came down to it, but the sheer testosterone of what they'd done on their earlier discs did feel a little watered down.

They did what they do and made it work on Evangelion. "Lucifer" is boring, but goddamn is "Shemhamforash" a neck breaker. That balance is almost completely gone here. The Satanist feels a lot like a bunch of "Lucifer"s. Sure, there's still some DM fury, but it seems to come secondary to all the build-ups. And while the build-ups can sound juicy, they never lead to any kind of exploding that's to be expected from the band that gave us The Apostasy not too long ago.

The extreme bits on this get boring quick. Every time you think, "shit, this is about to get good," songs will peter out and fall back into "just wait for it" mode. It either goes back to what feels a lot like filler, or the faster riffs are bland and melodramatic enough that you'll pine for any of their earlier albums, even the overrated ones like Demigod.

None of this is to say these guys are sounding bad necessarily. The mix is robust and the guys still play tightly; Inferno is still distractingly good at what he does and now the bass gets accented more, so Orion's chops are more audible, Nergal's voice is as powerful as ever, and so on. What they've put together here is tedious enough to surprise even their casual fans, in other words. It sounds like the kind of stuff made for expensive music videos, not the other way around.

Highlight: "Amen"





Written on 12.02.2014 by Wormdrink's real name is George and he's an American.

Guest review by
flightoficarus
Rating:
10
What's my favorite scary movie? The Shining. With its subtle, psychological terror and slow-build that only Kubrick can pull off, it's a masterpiece. Sure, I get down with the gore-ridden creature features too. Everything from Evil Dead to Friday the 13th is cool in my book. Why is this relevant? Aliens. Okay, now you are more confused. Let me elaborate further. I think a lot of long-time fans come to a Behemoth album expecting a certain level of violence. Demigod, Thelema.6, Zos Kia Cultus; these classics are the "Aliens" of the Behemoth discography. Explosions, flame-throwers, disembowelment, "Game over man, game over!" I'm right with you, popcorn ready. The Satanist, on the other hand, is "Alien." Swarms of xenomorphs are replaced with a single, lurking threat in the shadows. The emphasis is on tension as each innocent is picked off one by one and dragged to their grim (and unseen) demise. While both styles are equally valid, I find the imagination to be a far darker place than anything directly fed to my senses.

Read more ››
published 09.02.2015 | Comments (42)


Comments page 8 / 8

Comments: 215   Visited by: 1026 users
09.02.2015 - 22:58
Fearmeister
Account deleted
Written by Guest on 09.02.2015 at 22:43

At least we all know what the correct review is.


Pretty sure its none of them because everyone is stupid.
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04.04.2017 - 23:31
Rating: 7
Himedal

The average score of 8.34 from 720 users prove that this review is not written how it should be.
----
What goes by is life to be taken
The doom calls upon the forsaken
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05.04.2017 - 00:00
Vombatus
Potorro
Written by Himedal on 04.04.2017 at 23:31

The average score of 8.34 from 720 users prove that this review is not written how it should be.


I think those 720 users are the voice and reason of metal. I heard they know better than anyone else. Is that true? If so, this review better be rated 8.34, otherwise it's garbage for disagreeing with the opinion of a handful of internet users!!
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03.12.2017 - 12:35
Corandy

I really liked the sax part on "In The Absence Ov Light".
I digged the feeling of that part and it was some kind of atmosphere I haven't heard before, so even bigger praise for them.
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03.07.2021 - 10:55
Rating: 10
blackwreath13

This review reeks of compulsive contrarianism.
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