Behemoth - The Satanist review
| Band: | Behemoth |
| Album: | The Satanist |
| Style: | Blackened death metal |
| Release date: | February 2014 |
Disc I
01. Blow Your Trumpets Gabriel
02. Furor Divinus
03. Messe Noire
04. Ora Pro Nobis Lucifer
05. Amen
06. The Satanist
07. Ben Sahar
08. In The Absence Ov Light
09. O Father O Satan O Sun!
10. Ludzie Wschodu [Siekiera cover] [Australian bonus]
Disc II [DVD] [deluxe box set version]
01. Live Barbarossa
1 - Intro
2 - Ov Fire And The Void
3 - Demigod
4 - Moonspell Rites
5 - Conquer All
6 - Christians To The Lions
7 - The Seed Ov I
8 - Alas, Lord Is Upon Me
9 - Decade Of ΘΕΡΙΟΝ
10 - At The Left Hand Ov God
11 - Slaves Shall Serve
12 - Chant For ΕΣΧΗΑΤΟΝ 2000
13 - 23 (The Youth Manifesto)
14 - Lucifer
02. The Satanist: Oblivion
Not too many bands could throw a spoken-word, Kenny G sax muzak thing into the middle of a song called "In The Absence Ov Light" and not get laughed away into obscurity. Behemoth can get away with shit like that. They're just too cool to be dismissed. They sound cool and, with a theatrical sense that rivals well over half a Lady Gaga, they LOOK cool. I mean, I'm not gay, but I'd let Nergal and Orion double team me if they still want to.
The Satanist hasn't changed any of that. The already slightly precarious balance between their style and the substance of their music has changed. Since Thelema they've been making some of the most vicious and furious blackened, anti-Christian death metal around, all with an extravagant dramatic flair. With Evangelion they started emphasizing the evil mood creation bits and the ambient bits of their tunes more than they had before. And that wasn't necessarily a bad thing when it came down to it, but the sheer testosterone of what they'd done on their earlier discs did feel a little watered down.
They did what they do and made it work on Evangelion. "Lucifer" is boring, but goddamn is "Shemhamforash" a neck breaker. That balance is almost completely gone here. The Satanist feels a lot like a bunch of "Lucifer"s. Sure, there's still some DM fury, but it seems to come secondary to all the build-ups. And while the build-ups can sound juicy, they never lead to any kind of exploding that's to be expected from the band that gave us The Apostasy not too long ago.
The extreme bits on this get boring quick. Every time you think, "shit, this is about to get good," songs will peter out and fall back into "just wait for it" mode. It either goes back to what feels a lot like filler, or the faster riffs are bland and melodramatic enough that you'll pine for any of their earlier albums, even the overrated ones like Demigod.
None of this is to say these guys are sounding bad necessarily. The mix is robust and the guys still play tightly; Inferno is still distractingly good at what he does and now the bass gets accented more, so Orion's chops are more audible, Nergal's voice is as powerful as ever, and so on. What they've put together here is tedious enough to surprise even their casual fans, in other words. It sounds like the kind of stuff made for expensive music videos, not the other way around.
Highlight: "Amen"
 | Written on 12.02.2014 by Wormdrink's real name is George and he's an American. |
Rating:
10
10
|
Rating: 10 |
What's my favorite scary movie? The Shining. With its subtle, psychological terror and slow-build that only Kubrick can pull off, it's a masterpiece. Sure, I get down with the gore-ridden creature features too. Everything from Evil Dead to Friday the 13th is cool in my book. Why is this relevant? Aliens. Okay, now you are more confused. Let me elaborate further. I think a lot of long-time fans come to a Behemoth album expecting a certain level of violence. Demigod, Thelema.6, Zos Kia Cultus; these classics are the "Aliens" of the Behemoth discography. Explosions, flame-throwers, disembowelment, "Game over man, game over!" I'm right with you, popcorn ready. The Satanist, on the other hand, is "Alien." Swarms of xenomorphs are replaced with a single, lurking threat in the shadows. The emphasis is on tension as each innocent is picked off one by one and dragged to their grim (and unseen) demise. While both styles are equally valid, I find the imagination to be a far darker place than anything directly fed to my senses. Read more ›› |
Comments page 7 / 8
Comments: 215
Visited by: 1028 users
| Winterthrone Posts: 289  |
So if I read the comments by the staff here, we should never say a review is badly written and full of unexplained shit comments because all the reviewers here are perfect. My first comments were: The review is badly written, seems rushed. The comments on the quality of the album are unexplained and therefore nothing but bashing for the sake of bashing and one argument is repeated over and over. The rating I feel is not logical. If the ones who pretend to evaluate the work of others don't want to be evaluated too there is a fucking problem with you guys.
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| Winterthrone Posts: 289 |
One is entitled to his/her opinions, but when someone writes them down and present it as a review, one must follow some quality criteria. If not it's nothing more than bullshit commentaries like the ones on Metal Archives. Then every average trooll on the internet writes review. You can't justify the bad quality of a review by saying: Oh, but this is his or her opinion.
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| Troy Killjoy perfunctionist Staff Posts: 21306  |
Written by Winterthrone on 20.02.2014 at 01:50 I'm not nearly as invested in this issue as you but I'll try to address some points here. None of us should have a problem with any user commenting on the quality of a review as it's every user's right to voice their opinion. You think a review is poorly written and that it seems rushed and that's fine. I think some Staff and Elite members had a problem with most of the other complaints that took on more of a flaming tone (you suck, Behemoth is the best ever, etc.) As for the logic of a number attached to a review - don't read too much into that. The way some reviews are written you could swap a 6 for a 9 and it wouldn't make any difference. And lastly, as for being evaluated, I doubt any of us lose any sleep over one or two users - or hundreds for that matter - complaining about a review we wrote. I for one welcome constructive criticism, although most of the criticism in this thread is anything but constructive.
---- "Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something."
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| BitterCOld The Ancient One Admin Posts: 15250  |
In regards to staff writers, go ahead and offer constructive criticism ... but when you post 7 times on just one page, often in succession, you just come across as an obsessed loon with their knickers in a twist because he didn't get the same throbbing erection from the album you did. even the a7x fanbois weren't so compulsive in responding to a far harsher review i did of one of their works. numerical values - funny you mention those. the biggest problem with this site is far too many people rate everything either a 9/10... basically a bunch of knobs you could blindfold, turn loose in the record store, and would think whatever random album they picked up was top 10 all time. Scores of 8 (very good) are met by many posters as if you slagged the band, kicked their dog, and set fire to their childhood home. undoubtedly calling something from a horribly popular act merely average is undoubted to release a shit storm. but... as a staff writer here, i'd much rather have someone like the author posting up reviews - someone who is not afraid to differ from the sheep-in-wolf clothing mentality (X-metal is good, Y-metal all sucks) and an amusing way of expressing himself. (I'd bet $100 those whining about what he said would be laughing if directed at another act.) do i always agree with him or other writers? no. hell, in retrospect I don't even agree with my own reviews. but i applaud their effort. if you want professionally written ballwashing, i'm sure there are plenty of mags you can find where they are paid to say nice things about big bands you might like, so your delicate sensibilities won't be offended.
---- get the fuck off my lawn. Beer Bug Virus Spotify Playlist crafted by Nikarg and I. Feel free to tune in and add some pertinent metal tunes!
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| Malignar Posts: 284 |
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| Maco Pvt Funderground Posts: 3593  |
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| zwitek Posts: 5 |
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| enumaelis Posts: 266  |
Just listened to the album a couple of times. Not even close to what Satanica, Thelema.6 and Zos Kia Cultus were back in the day. I more or less agree with the reviewer. The album is just one more with some moments that reminded me to those 3 albums more than the last ones from the band. It would be a great album in 1998, but today it's just "enjoyable" for a while and nothing else. Just better than the mediocre and overrated Evangelion.
---- http://enumaelis.blogspot.com/
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| Zap Guest Posts: 3517  |
Written by Auntie Sahar on 18.02.2014 at 17:40 Exactly the reason why I don't rate albums. Does the rating 7.5 really say anything about how much I like something? No. It could mean that I enjoy it a lot, but see a lot of flaws that I choose to ignore when I listen to it, but not when I rate it. It could mean that I don't like it, but see that it is a groundbreaking album, so I rate it semi-objectively. It could mean it's an above-average album, but not quite reaching that level of greatness. Etc. If people would just pay attention to what someone has to say about an album instead of what score out of ten they give it, the internet would be a better place. By the way, I don't mean that rating is completely useless. A lot of people feel like the score they give an album reflects their opinion of it. That's fine, it's just very hard for me because I want to take all factors into account which makes it extremely hard.
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| Hellcult Posts: 344  |
Very good album but not a fantastic one, some song are really amaizing when others only good and this album is a 8/10 to me, i prefer older records because i love all kind of death metal from technical to brutal and this album is not as fast and heavy as the others(some songs are) but it still keeps top quality record and u can say whatever u want but Behemoth as a band is a top 5 in the world at the moment.
---- And I see the blade fall down upon the head of lord in heaven And Darkness falls upon the end of history While I drink the milk of the Black Goddess and cry over the mankind Black Moses is my name...
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| Darth Revan Posts: 147 |
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| Daniell _爱情_ Elite Posts: 6061  |
Written by Darth Revan on 24.02.2014 at 06:19 The staff don't meet and decide on ratings. The rating is what the reviewer thinks.
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| Troy Killjoy perfunctionist Staff Posts: 21306 |
Written by Daniell on 24.02.2014 at 19:31 Could you imagine what that process would be like? 
---- "Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something."
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| X-Ray Rod Skandino Staff Posts: 18274  |
Written by Troy Killjoy on 25.02.2014 at 15:35 We already call each other names during the MSA nominations. Deciding on ratings would be a straight up massacre.
---- Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29 Written by Milena on 20.06.2012 at 10:49
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| Auntie Sahar Drone Empress Elite Posts: 5941  |
Just figured I'd drop this here as a sort of appendix to what everyone's said already. Part of (not only, though) the reason I wrote it was in response to the unbelievably ignorant shitstorm this review conjured.
---- I am the Magician and the Exorcist. I am the axle of the wheel, and the cube in the circle. “Come unto me” is a foolish word: for it is I that go. ~ II. VII
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| Darth Revan Posts: 147 |
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| Reverend X Posts: 60  |
Does anyone have a better review? I might accept the review but I can't accept the rating.
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| Troy Killjoy perfunctionist Staff Posts: 21306 |
Written by Reverend X on 26.02.2014 at 07:28 Do you normally have issues accepting someone else's opinion?
---- "Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something."
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| Reverend X Posts: 60 |
Written by Troy Killjoy on 26.02.2014 at 07:37 No. Not really. Sometimes when it comes to your favorite bands. It's hard to accept when you differ in opinion.
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| ANEK┼BLACRAVEN Posts: 1 |
Written by Reverend X on 26.02.2014 at 07:28 I do agree, somehow it seems like this guy expects BEHEMOTH to offer exactly the whole same kind of musics that HE adores, that's why he dismisses the musical evolution of Behemoth which is they offer by each of their albums. He calls the Dark atmosphere of this album as Boring...I guess it's not really fair! Anyways, I believe that from technical and musical point of view this is never Behemoth's album, but it's their darkest for sure and I love it! So I'd have problems with any rating below 8! 
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| Ace Frawley The Spaceman Posts: 1458  |
I'd write my own review if I had more time. Working and having a two-year-old doesn't leave much time for writing reviews of metal albums.
---- The sun shines over The Fool...
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| Reverend X Posts: 60 |
Written by deadone on 28.02.2014 at 01:09 You're right. MS does post good reviews. Of course the reviewer is entitled to his own point of view. Well there are fans who can't take "No" for an answer. We're just upset that the review didn't go our way.
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| boo-boo Posts: 203  |
Written by Reverend X on 28.02.2014 at 08:11 I'm with you, man. I listened to the album about five times in a row when I finally got the chance to. Though I respect the review and its author, I can hardly agree. But hey - nobody cares what we (the fans) think, since being a fan kind of implies you might be a lot less critical perhaps. 
---- World won't end today - it's already tomorrow in Australia.
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| AngelofDeth Cyborg Raptor Posts: 1183  |
Jeese, a lot of fanboys upset here! Everyone is just bashing the review without giving valid points as to why the album should get a better rating(other than "musical evolution", "they're my favorite band" or.. my fave "everyone else thinks its good, why dont you?) While not flawless, I think the review is for the most part very well written and a 6.0 is not a terrible marking to throw on a band, it's about the nicest "I dont like it rating" one can give. Personally. I hold a similar opinion about the album and agree with the too much build up with no payoff critique. But furthermore the album comes off as sloppy and boring to me. Song structure and riffing is far too simplistic and there are parts that just feel off imo, such as the saxophone part. This is an album I wouldnt mind listening to in a friends car but not something I will go out of my way for.
---- pewpew.. gotcha
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| s_t_s Posts: 1208  |
Wow ! At the first listenings I really couldn't get into it, guess it was mostly due to the fact that I expected something more violent from Behemoth. Also the whole fuss about the album, Nergal's blood on the cover and such shit surely reduced my interest close to zero. But now with a few weeks delay, I cannot stop listening to this album ! The drums, the vocals, the arrangement, the prod, it's simply flawless !
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| Ace Frawley The Spaceman Posts: 1458 |
Written by s_t_s on 20.05.2014 at 11:31 I'm with you. After many repeated listens, this album grew on me to a point that I now love it. The drumming is awesome. Vocals brilliant. Guitars sound great.
---- The sun shines over The Fool...
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| BitterCOld The Ancient One Admin Posts: 15250 |
Written by Auntie Sahar on 12.02.2014 at 17:45 took a while, but we got one.
---- get the fuck off my lawn. Beer Bug Virus Spotify Playlist crafted by Nikarg and I. Feel free to tune in and add some pertinent metal tunes!
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