Just think of it! This prominent black metal musician was selected as judge in TV contest The Voice of Poland (his guy won, too!), became the face of energy drink giants Monster, went onstage with goth rock legends FIELDS OF THE NEPHILIM, recorded a dark country/blues album with side project ME AND THAT MAN, started working out rigidly, openly embraced both his yoga and his “hipster” side. All in all – not things one would expect from a fierce black metal persona, time and time again prosecuted from Polish court for blasphemous actions.

 

All of this was well reflected in BEHEMOTH’s music. In the best way possible. Thanks to his newfound freedom, NERGAL was able to exploit all that made his band a household name in European underground, while getting rid of those pesky death metal influences that made BEHEMOTH’s Era II (think albums in between ‘Satanica’ and ‘Evangelion’ a tad unlikeable). And finally – to present us with ‘The Satanist’. This was not only the band’s finest effort but their definitive step up – into metal’s highest echelon. Straightforward yet diverse, extreme yet melodic, in a mere 44-minutes of running time, ‘The Satanist’ was able to accumulate so much occult might, heavy riffing and creativity, that its Excellent (6) rating here at Tangra Mega Rock (and pretty much everywhere else) was well deserved.

 

‘I Loved You at Your Darkest’ seemed controversial from the get-go. Not only cause of the awkward title but also because of the children’s choir in first single ‘God = Dog’. Yet all of this was simply the re-born NERGAL in action – a man bent on provoking and shocking, not simply conforming to anything. After all, album’s title was much better than ‘Pandemonic Incantations’, for example, while the children’s’ voices were simply an influence of Hollywood actor Ryan Gosling’s splendid alt rock project DEAD MAN’S BONES.

 

It seems kind of hard not to like ‘I Loved You at Your Darkest’, even if you’re eagerly waiting for the band to return to their ‘Zos Kia Cultus’ days, which seems highly, highly unlikely at this point. BEHEMOTH’s new album is by all means thought-of, multi-layered and splendidly recorded. It follows ‘The Satanist’’s formula – short but hard-hitting tracks and an overall runtime of under 50 minutes.

 

No real missteps here. Especially when it comes to our favourites ‘Bartzabel’ and ‘Havohej Pantocrator’ that shine with slight post punk winks, symphonic grandness and metal extremity. Even the somewhat standard blackery in ‘Wolves of Siberia’ and ‘Rom 5:8’ sounds wholly adequate and befits the new BEHEMOTH and the new NERGAL.

 

Still, it comes as little surprise that ‘I Loved You at Your Darkest’ is nowhere near the fatal impact of ‘The Satanist’ noir does it posses its almost pop appeal. After all, it was NERGAL that set the bar so high even he himself can hardly reach it these days.

 

Thus, it’s pretty hard to accurately rate ‘I Loved You at Your Darkest’. As we listen to the thundering ‘We Are the Next 1000 Years’, we’re convinced it deserves no less than Very Good (5) as it stands head and shoulders above the extreme metal competition. Then again, it’s inevitable we compare it to ‘The Satanist’ making the actual rating more like Good (4) for the album is just nice and wholesome and not as genius as its predecessor.

 

Whichever rate fits your perception better, don’t kid yourselves – BEHEMOTH have captured the black metal trone and are not going to give it up any time soon.