Hi folks! This week's album of the week is Behemoth's "The Satanist." This marked a bit of a change in Behemoth's sound. As a bit of a comeback album for Behemoth, this album has always stuck out to me. I am a fan of Behemoth's early black metal sound, as well as their blackened death sound heard on albums like Demigod, but The Satanist sticks out as unique in Behemoth's discography. I don't think they've matched the heights of this album since and have been tweaking their sound since this album to sacrifice some heaviness at the expense of commercial success, but The Satanist struck a balance that I think is tough to achieve.

The production on this album is incredibly impactful and sounds absolutely massive too.

My favourite song on this album is probably "O Father, O Satan, O Sun"

Side note, I think 10 years back is the most recent I will go for these types of posts. Next week will go back a bit further in time

Let me know your thoughts on this album, as well as favourite songs!

the last great album !!

Thought this one was pretty weak when it came out and never understood the hype- nor have I seen almost anyone with similar taste to me hold it up, either when it came out or in the years since then. Feels like the biggest impact is cementing a push towards a more accessible and generic "blackened extreme metal sound" for mainstream bands to clutch onto, which was started by Rotting Christ with Theogonia but really catapulted to the public eye with 2013's Κατά τον δαίμονα εαυτού. The Satanist running with that has led to ten years of the stuff.

Honestly, that was the album where I realized that Behemoth just isn't for me. I gave The Apostasy a try and it was okay, then this one just totally feel flat in all ways. I will probably end up selling them both.

100% agree! There was a time when Behemoth was one of my absolutely fave bands. I mean...Satanica to Demigod are just pure gold! The Apostasy was still kinda OK but the signs of stagnation started to pop up. And I really don’t blame the guys to trying something new but damn, yeah, accessible and mainstream is a good way to describe Satanist...can’t help it but to draw a parallel with Metallica’s Black album.

I picked it up randomly a few years back just because I'd heard a lot - wasn't impressed. This just seemed like an incredibly airless, joyless slog... like music written by computers. Just sounded like tedious stuff without feeling, drama, anything really.

Love this album; easily on par with their best records.
I can't stand modern Behemoth, but the run from Zos Kia Cultus up to and including The Satanist is phenomenal in my book.

The beginning of the end

I don’t know Behemoth super well but this one always felt like the culmination of their trajectory. They could’ve called it here and their legacy would be 100% secure.

Satanica through Evangelion were all at least good or even great/excellent slabs of Polish blackened death metal that put Behemoth in my top three favorite bands over the course of probably not even two years. It was the first new Behemoth album after I was already a fan of the band, and I couldn't help but be somewhat disappointed when it released. It's not bad and has a few top songs, but it signaled the sound to come that has bored me on the last two albums and lowered my interest in the band significantly. Unfortunate.

I think this is the most accurate analysis I have ever read of The Satanist's success. This is almost word for word what I experienced. None of the people who are deep into death and black metal like me seemed to care much for it, but I saw people who were otherwise not really into metal in some of my friends circles start to praise it a lot, and it was all very surprising to me. And yeah, whenever I actually gave it a spin myself, I was underwhelmed. Like, it's not bad by any means. But it's not doing much that other blackened death metal bands aren't doing better.

An album full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. Mainstream media glommed onto it in attempt to seem hip, openminded, enlightened, or esoteric. It lacks almost everything I look for in a metal album, and music in general. It’s just bluster with no substance.

This coming from a fella who really enjoyed everything from their post-black period, especially Demigod and Evangelion.

Weren't any better albums available for the album of the week? I mean The Satanist is not even the best Behemoth album. I like the run from Satanica to Demigod a lot more.

I figured I'd give some attention to this one this week, next one will be a classic I do agree though, Satanica-Demigod is where I generally listen to Behemoth. I like seeing all the different opinions on this one though!

I agree with a lot of other posters that this one seemed to get latched onto by a lot of non-metal press and get a ton of attention. This is my personal cutoff point for Behemoth, I find after this one that there's not much worthwhile. This is not my personal favourite Behemoth album but I thought it'd be a good one to spark some conversation given all the attention it received over the years. I really enjoyed The Headless Cross AOTW as it sparked some great conversation!

Satanica and Thelema 6 were the albums that a friend of mine brought when we were getting into extreme metal years ago, so both very important albums, especially Satanica (the cd also had the Decade of Therion video, fascinating). I did not really like zos kia kultus since I was not into death metal when it came out and for some years. Then I remember demigod came out and I was listening to it at the airport and in the airplane over and over again and it really clicked and that’s when I embraced death metal as well in general.

Apostasy had a strange sound, I liked some of the tracks but it was not my favorite. I also liked Evangelion a lot, with its huge sound, hit songs and huge videos. I also saw them maybe twice in those years live and it was killer, I remember traveling by myself to their show to a different town.

Finally coming to Satanist. It was advertised as second coming of black metal, I preordered the album since I liked the blow your trumpets single. But overall, I think it was mostly a turn towards melodeath, in a black metal cover. The songs are catchy and it transported the band into bigger venues and everything so good for them but for me it was ultimately a step down. It needs to be said that around 2010 I went much more underground in my listening habits, so that might be a factor as well. I still like the heavy metal solo on Messe Noir a lot.

I still went to see the Satanist tour, but mostly for the support of Bolzer. Behemoth was not bad, but it became way too theatrical.

Best album of Behemoth and one of best of ‘10…

But oh god sell out,too much praised…..

Stay way from that masterpiece …

It's the only Behemoth album I own and it's good. I think it has some great songs, while at the same time isn't quite the masterpiece some make it out to be. I'm choosing to believe the lyrics are meant to be as ridiculously tongue-in-cheek as they seem, though...