Behemoth – Abyssus Abyssum Invocat

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The fact that lead singer and guitarist Nergal has recovered from his leukaemia is something to seriously celebrate. After all, the rock and metal scene has had some tragic losses in the last year or two, and we really didn’t need another to add to the pile. That probably hasn’t much to do with this re-release however, which couples together two EPs released around the time of the utterly tremendous Demigod record. The first of these is Conjuration, released before Demigod. The initial track, Conjuration Ov Sleep Daemons is decent Behemoth, albeit not quite up to the standard set by the album that succeeded it. This is followed by rather average covers of Nine Inch Nail‘s Wish and Venom‘s Welcome to Hell, that sound rather unnecessary. Slaves Shall Serve, title track from the second EP in the set, is of course hard hitting and amazing – but if you already have Demigod, you already know that, because it’s on that album too. Entering the Pylon ov Light sounds exactly like what you expect – like an outtake from the Demigod sessions. Thankfully the covers on this EP fair much better – Nefilim‘s Penetration sounds great with the Behemoth touch, and Danzig‘s Until You Call On The Dark at least sounds alright, if not spectacular. So it is left to the album’s considerable collection of live tracks to pick up the flack, a collection of 11 tracks taken from Mystic Festival in 2001, and Sweden Rock Festival in 2005. These live recordings really do the band justice, managing to convey the monstrous live sound very well. It also comes with bonus live tracks not on the original releases. Quite a lot of the songs are available in live format on the band’s At The Arena ov Aion live album though, and one song is even duplicated between the two sets (Lam). This ultimately makes this compilation enjoyable – after all, Behemoth are pretty damn amazing at what they do – but not really necessary except for dedicated fans, and such fans probably already have the original editions of both records. Still, this compilation is still worth a curious look at the very least.

Written by James Donovan
More: 2011, Albums, Death Metal, Quick.Play Reviews, Behemoth