Band:	Behemoth
Album:	Zos Kia Cultus (Here And Beyond)
Style:	Blackened death metal
Release date:	October 2002

01. Horns Ov Baphomet
02. Modern Iconoclasts
03. Here And Beyond
04. As Above So Below
05. Blackest Ov The Black
06. Hekau 718
07. The Harlot Ov The Saints
08. No Sympathy For Fools
09. Zos Kia Cvltvs
10. Fornicatus Benefictus
11. Typhonian Soul Zodiack
12. Heru Ra Ha: Let There Be Might

Being young and still relatively new to Metal I was, understandably, introduced to the scene by some of the "newer" acts and albums of the day, at least to my knowledge. This album, Behemoth's 'Zos Kia Cultus,' was one of the first albums that not only got me into Behemoth the band, but into Metal music as a whole. While I feel that I have progressed in my understanding and acceptance of the genre as a whole, I can't help but fall back to this album and enjoy it, and still profess it to be better than most of the Death Metal scene that's alive today, and even a rival to the glorious albums of the past which most of us still drool over.

With their fifth release, 'Zos Kia Cultus,' Behemoth transcended the accepted definition of "Blackened" Death Metal at the time, and still define it today. The album is full of what many still consider to be Behemoth's finest moments: crushing guitar production and riffing that suffocates the listener; drumming so tight and fast that it's hard to discern whether Inferno is man or machine; some of the most inhumane, evil vocals ever put forward in the realm of Metal as a whole; and imagery and lyrical content that straddles the line not only between Black and Death Metal but between contemporary art and the occult past that humanity has left behind.

While this album is technically proficient, and the signs and symbols will get your human intuition of curiosity boiling, and the overall attitude and primal nature of such tracks as "Blackest ov the Black" and "No Sympathy for Fools" is ferocious, the album does suffer from a few faults. The first five tracks are what I consider to be some of the best songs to ever open an album, but that is somewhat a problem when they are contrasted with the latter five (excluding two interludes which some might find tasteless or just a waste of time.) In the latter half, the songs become a bit less creative, yet still manage to be worthy slabs of Metal. They come off a little uninspired, but there are still pieces of the songs to get your blood pumping, especially the whole of the song "No Sympathy for Fools" as mentioned or the almost deranged chant by Nergal of the word "slain" in "The Harlot ov the Saints."

So I guess you could say I have a "soft" spot in my heart for this album, seeing as I "grew up" with it, but I still believe it to be a great piece of contemporary Death Metal than can be enjoyed by any fan of extreme music along with Metal in general. Behemoth cast off the chains of their black past and entered a new age of the monolithic Death Metal machine they are known for today, and even today still seem to keep in mind the lyric "no rest for conquerors."