Behemoth – Demigod

artist website

publisher

impulse buy

Regain Records
Produced by Nergal

To most people black metal and death metal is the same thing. Those of us who are fans of the two different entities know better. There are however a few bands who stray in and out of both but, not many have walked the line between the two separate genres better than Poland’s Behemoth.

This four-piece band is fronted by the 27 year old Nergal who is also the bands founder. A very intense individual who can’t separate himself from his music. Every thing you hear on this album is from his heart and bled from his soul. The band also features Orion on bass, Seth on guitar, and Inferno who is one of the heaviest hitters to ever play drums. This album also features a guest appearance by guitarist Karl Sanders of Nile who does some soloing on the song Xul.

Demigod is their most powerful and intense album to date. With a much better production on this album they can literally leap way ahead of almost all other death acts and by combining two different styles they achieve a perfect, but well-trodden extreme sound and a bit of story telling atmosphere. Kicking this album off is a song called Sculpting The Throne Ov Set. A very hard-edged tune with the drums standing way out front. The guitar work is somewhat disappointing in so much as it is pretty repetitive but I guess when it comes to this genre of music that is to be expected. The vocals are a deep growl; not over the top but, deep enough that one must read the liner notes to know what he is saying. Another thing that disappointed me about the vocals is they sound almost like he is singing through a synthesizer. I’m probably wrong about that, but that’s what it sounds like.

The title track of the album comes up next. This also happens to be the song chosen for the first video for this album. The opening guitar has a very commanding sound and compliments the drums perfectly. A distinctive sound is what this album needed and they definitely got it for this song with the guitar work being far less generic than on some of the other songs. Inferno’s drumming skills are as noticeable in this song as they are through every song on the album – pounding, aggressive and rhythmic, you can tell he is the one who keeps the pits going at their shows. As with Sculpting The Throne Ov Set, I didn’t really care for the vocals. They just seem too forced for what they needed to be. The vocals aren’t really bad, I just think they could be so much better.

This album came with high anticipation for me. Demigod was a seriously hyped album and Behemoth did a lot of touring for it. I really didn’t care for it at first. To me it sounded just like any other death metal album but after considerable listening time it has grown on me. Although I still think the overall sound isn’t all that much different than anyone else’s I will say there are places on the album where I find myself going back over to hear again.

I would not say that this was album of the year nor would I say avoid it at all costs. Pure blooded death metal fans will want this while fans who are casual listeners will want to borrow it.

“ too forced ”

Tracklist: Scultping The Throne Ov Set / Demigod / Conquer All / The Nephilim Rising / Towards Babylon / Before The Aeons Come / Myserium Coniunctionis (Hermanubis) / Xul / Slaves Shall Serve / Reign ov Shemu-Hur

Written by Mike Conrad
More: Albums, Death Metal, Behemoth