This may come as a surprise, given that I run this site, but I don’t think I’ve ever listened to a Behemoth album right through. I’ve seen them live a couple of times, and they put on a hell of a show, but they’ve never been a “go to” band. When Opvs Contra Natvram came in I decided to rectify that. I mean, they’ve got quite the reputation. I had to see if they really deserve it, or if the payoff is in the live performance.
Opener “Post God Nirvana” is a little… odd. Very much like the introduction to a piece of musical theatre, which I guess is the point. Behemoth don’t just release albums with random songs on, they release a collection of related material. In this case the theme seems to be “fuck it all, stand up and be counted” and the echoing, distant and rumbling tones of track number one simply give a warning of what’s in store.
“Malaria Vulgata” just leaps out of the speakers immediately with a bit of a jolt, and is more what you might expect from a bunch of extreme metal icons and it’s OK. It didn’t blow me away, but it’s a good song and one which shows off the band’s thrashier, more energetic side. Notable from the off, though, is the production which is crisp yet meaty (like… I dunno, bacon crisps). In particular I love that the bass really thrums, and the drum fills seem to jump to the fore while the more “keeping the beat” style nestle a little more into the background.
It’s “The Deathless Sun” which really smacks of what I imagine when I imagine how Behemoth should sound. Opulent, overblown, grand and bloody evil. This is the first genuinely great song on the album. Extreme metal has no right being this catchy and accessible. The whole soundscape of this and other tracks remind me of Ex Deo who I bloody love, so by this point I’m hooked.
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With the album out tomorrow, and four of the songs available to listen to in the video below, I’m not going to plough through each song. Suffice it to say that when you get your hands on it you should be skipping to “Deathless Sun”, “Thy Becoming Eternal” and “Neo Spartacus” with it’s near-funky bass line first. And it was hard to just pick a top three.
Nergal has stated that the album writing and recording process was a lot less pressured than usual due to the whole lockdown thing. No deadlines mean that band could spend the time nailing everything down, and not feeling they had to take anything on its first draft. Instead, they weren’t afraid to try, try again until that perfect riff formed, or the overlay was exactly how they wanted it. This really shows and while I can’t really compare to older release as I said, this is a top quality slab of metal. It’s surprisingly easy to listen to as well. I really expected something more “wall of intense sound”, but this is far better to my ears and as such I will be digging out the older material to see how this stands up.
Modern extreme metal at its most orchestral and impressive.
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Header photo credit: Sylwia Makris + Christian Martin Weiss
Opvs Contra Cvltvram is out on September 16th
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