Behemoth - The Satanist review
| Band: | Behemoth |
| Album: | The Satanist |
| Style: | Blackened death metal |
| Release date: | February 03, 2014 |
| A review by: | wormdrink414 |
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. |
Rating:
10
10
|
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 ›› |
Comments page 3 / 8
Comments: 216
Visited by: 1040 users
| strade Posts: 677  |
Always entertaining when people find a review objectively false when it doesn't align with their subjective opinion regarding the art in question. To object to the technical merit of a written piece is one thing, but to reject it merely on the basis of a rating that is too high/low doesn't reflect well on the intelligence of its reader.
---- My lo-fi synth project: http://luciddreamer.bandcamp.com
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| blackmamba Posts: 52 |
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| Unhealer Eclecticist Posts: 2311  |
Written by blackmamba on 13.02.2014 at 01:50 Can't believe I just read that. Do you understand that both the quality of a reviewer's writing and the taste for music are completely subjective? There's no such thing as poor taste in music.
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| blackmamba Posts: 52 |
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| Coolingsrock Posts: 229  |
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| BitterCOld The Ancient One Admin Posts: 15289  |
Frankly, I'll take his six over the MS score. By taking the time to write multiple reviews it's easier to get an idea where the author comes from. People just clicking 1->10 means nothing to me. The ratings you cite are garbage. As noted, it's fanbois overrating it, which will be countered by those who don't immediately swoon at anything associated with Nergal rating it more rationally when they've bothered to check it out. Finally, the forgotten step in deadone's plan... if it is still at the top, it'll get tanked by a bunch of people who'll score it 1 to sandbag it's score in the annual rank. As for the album, I'll be sure to check it out, but whenever. no burning desire. I think Pyroleprechaun said it best a couple years ago somewhere 'round here. Behemoth is like the Chinese food of DM. You listen to it, enjoy it, and 30 minutes later forget all about it.
---- get the fuck off my lawn. Beer Bug Virus Spotify Playlist crafted by Nikarg and I. Feel free to tune in and add some pertinent metal tunes!
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| R'Vannith ghedengi Elite Posts: 3099  |
Written by blackmamba on 13.02.2014 at 02:39 You seem to be distinguishing the number and rating given here as an objective statement, as opposed to and something distinct from the subjective written assessment of the music. This is inaccurate. The number 6 is a initial indicator of where the reviewer stands with their assessment of a particular piece of music on a scale from 1 to 10 based upon the ample explanation given in writing. The latter leads to the former; the review itself seeks to justify the number or rating given. This review is serious because it makes a personal and clearly well reasoned assessment of the music in question, and applies a rating to such an assessment accordingly.
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| Mattybu Posts: 2589  |
Written by blackmamba on 13.02.2014 at 01:50 Who are you to decide who has a good or bad taste in music? On another note, threads like this are what make me lean towards no numbers... Even if people read a negative review they disagree with (I would bargain a good bunch of the whiners got to whining straight after seeing the score though) if there's no number to disagree with I would think it would foster more interesting conversation about the album itself rather than just "wow only a 6 i would have giveing this album like 10 million points of score reviewer u are dumb and have bad tastes". People would still bitch though don't get me wrong.
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| Ocean Sage Posts: 474  |
Worst review ever. Metalstorm please remove this troll trash. It's disgraceful and I'd hate it if someone saw this review and decided not to give this amazing album a chance.
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| Ace Frawley The Spaceman Posts: 1459  |
No, not the worst review ever. There have been many a lot worse than this. The review is okay, regardless of whether you agree with the wording or the score given. Personally, I think the album deserves a bit better score than 6.0 but if the reviewer only rates it as that, fair enough then. The overall rating by those who have voted has it much higher. I've only listened to the album about four times, so still trying to make my mind up on a score. I think it will be closer to an 8 for me.
---- The sun shines over The Fool...
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| wormdrink414 Elite Posts: 1295  |
Written by Ocean Sage on 13.02.2014 at 06:19 ooh yeah, tell me more about your feelings, mmmmmmmmmm  Maybe try elaborating on those strong opinions of yours. Otherwise, chances are HIGH no one will care what you think here.
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| Ace Frawley The Spaceman Posts: 1459 |
Written by wormdrink414 on 13.02.2014 at 07:09 hey, where did you get a pic of my g/friend from?
---- The sun shines over The Fool...
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| wormdrink414 Elite Posts: 1295 |
Written by Ace Frawley on 13.02.2014 at 07:16 You mean my girlfriend?
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| Monolithic ♠♠♠ Posts: 669  |
Seriously, if anyone is ever pissed off on any review, just write down your own review or post your opinion in details and present your own impression of the album without getting too comfortable with words like "u suck because you gave the album a 6.0". Not only you're contributing to the discussion in a better, more reliable way, you're also paving the way for self-expression, for heaven's sake. 
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| Daniell _爱情_ Elite Posts: 6106  |
Written by wormdrink414 on 12.02.2014 at 22:33 Quote: Oh well. "boring 'cause slow"
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| Yojimbo Posts: 232  |
I disagree with the review. I enjoyed this album much more than their other recent albums. I don't consider myself a huge fan of Behemoth. I was into Satanica and Thelema6 quite a bit for a few months, but outside of that it's really only been sporadically that I listen to them. They're not one of those bands that I can go back to at anytime. The Satanist is an album that's on a different level from their recent sound (meaning the albums after and including Demigod). They stopped doing that annoying guitar technique, I can't remember what it's called, but it's that high pitched squeal at the end of many riffs. That always bothered me and thankfully I don't recall hearing it on this one. In many songs here there's just the slightest bit of melody, not enough to change their genre, but it shows a higher quality of song writing, imo. This album's not an earth shaker but it's a lot better than a six out of ten. I've went through it now close to ten times. Favorite song is Ora Pro Nobis Lucifer.
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| wormdrink414 Elite Posts: 1295 |
Written by Daniell on 13.02.2014 at 08:48 Yeah, kinda. I'd go with "boring 'cause it's slow Behemoth " though. Not getting where the rewards are for patience with this thing. The more moody and slowed down bits just sound like Behemoth playing Behemoth riffs slowly to me, haven't clicked. Sounds more plasticky and corny than it does evil, been a pain to sit through.
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| wormdrink414 Elite Posts: 1295 |
Written by Yojimbo on 13.02.2014 at 09:12 Think you mean pinch harmonics. Yeah, agreed about those. Annoying when done a bunch, but they did that style that's xeroxed like hell now really well. Seems like there's less double-bassing and tripleting on this too, but if more of that stuff means less emphasis on build-ups, I'd have probably liked this more.
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| Yojimbo Posts: 232 |
Written by wormdrink414 on 13.02.2014 at 09:35 You know, I think I like build-ups. It just makes for an epic feeling while listening. Nobody does it better than Primordial. That stir of emotion is important to me. I don't notice it when it's not there but appreciate it when it is. If we mean the same thing, that is.
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| Ace Frawley The Spaceman Posts: 1459 |
Written by Monolithic on 13.02.2014 at 08:17 Good point. I did that when I thought the Lamb of God Resolution review was giving a one-sided view of the album.
---- The sun shines over The Fool...
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| boo-boo Posts: 208  |
Written by Yojimbo on 13.02.2014 at 09:12 Finally, someone with an opinion similar to mine (able to sum it up reasonably).
---- World won't end today - it's already tomorrow in Australia.
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| Daniell _爱情_ Elite Posts: 6106 |
Written by Ace Frawley on 13.02.2014 at 07:16 Sorry you have such an ugly girlfriend /endtroll
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| immortal78 Posts: 12  |
Very good review! Behemoth Anno 2014 is moody and .....funny with its satanistic imaginery. There is a lot of things not discovered yet except that. The Satanist dosnt deserve for the highest rate..
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| Cynic Metalhead Ambrish Saxena Posts: 7574  |
Written by wormdrink414 on 13.02.2014 at 07:18 Seriously? You guys have bad taste in choosing girlfriends.
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| ParisDimitropoulos Posts: 1 |
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| X-Ray Rod Skandino Staff Posts: 18378  |
Written by [user id=4365] on 13.02.2014 at 17:47 RAFL.
---- Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29 Written by Milena on 20.06.2012 at 10:49
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| X-Ray Rod Skandino Staff Posts: 18378 |
Written by [user id=4365] on 13.02.2014 at 18:14 I blew it though, only after 10 mins I thought that the Jurasic Park laughter represented my reaction way better.
---- Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29 Written by Milena on 20.06.2012 at 10:49
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