Sventevith (Storming Near the Baltic)

Behemoth have always been a great band, some people prefer the new Extreme Death Metal they play, others prefer the Black Metal band they were before. Honestly I prefer the Black Metal they did back then.

So stop the crap and write the review you may be thinking so here I go: Is it a good album? Hell yeah it is. The album was recorded in 1994 and honestly it's sounds like something really fresh even nowadays.

The first thing you'll notice is the use of a lot of acoustic guitars, I really like how they use them in the songs: they play fast and agressive black metal in the back but upfront you can hear some beautiful melodies played by acoustic guitars (The Chant from the Eastern Lands, Entering the Faustian Soul), something that's quite original honestly, also you can hear some nice keyboards that in the case of most songs they do more of an atmospheric arrangement than complicated keyboard runs and stuff although they carry the melody on some parts. As for the voice Nergal uses a kind of shriek that fits the music quite well. The drums in the record are OK ; nothing special there, not bad, not excellent, just some average drumming throughout the record, although I must say Baal Ravenlock does some nice fills and patterns in songs like The Chant from the Eastern Lands (which is one of my songs in the album).

The record is quite stable as all songs are OK and I don't feel there are any fillers on it, also it's worth mentioning that there are some tracks that are only interludes like The Touch of Nya which is two acoustic guitar piece that sounds really mystical, it has a kind ov Mediterranean feel that sounds really cool and also Ancient which is a synth piece that sounds really mystical too; this interludes are great because they help to keep the record varied and different.

All in all a very original and tight Black Metal album, if you like the new Behemoth don't expect the same band here, if you like Black Metal don't hesitate. Solid release from these guys ov Poland.