Evangelion

Review originally published at http://www.teethofthedivine.com by Erik Thomas

I’ve kind of dreaded writing this review ever since I gave Evangelion a few spins. Seeing as Behemoth has reached Dismember, Bolt Thrower, Suffocation and Grave levels of consistency and quality, they have arguably surpassed Vader as Poland’s premier metal export and almost certainly should be considered death metal royalty at this point in their career. So giving Evangelion a lukewarm review was somewhat disconcerting for me.

Personally, Behemoth peaked with Zos Kia Cultus and while I enjoyed Demigod and The Apostasy, the band’s gradually increased nods towards Nile, over processed production and essentially interchangeable songs made the albums rather forgetful over the long haul, while I still play Zos Kia Cultus regularly. And to be honest, I thought Nergal might be running out of ideas with some lackluster covers and the 34th reworking of “Chant for Eschaton” appeared on the Ezkaton EP.

On the positive side, we have a new label, along with it a new producer (Colin Richardson) and as you’d expect, the result is a slightly different sound from the previous, huge, loose sounding efforts. Evangelion is much tighter, compressed and natural as opposed to the massive, layering and echoing tones of The Apostasy and Demigod. Nergal’s vocals are a little more natural and fluid instead of horridly over produced and processed, resulting in an album that sounds much less overbearing and synthetic. Also, there seems to be a slightly lessened role of theatrics and dramatic elements as Nergal and co seems to have battened down the hatches and focused on actual riffs and furious death metal delivery as opposed to some of the extraneous choirs and synths that graced The Apostasy- the change is minimal, as there are a few injections of synths and Middle Eastern tangents, but its noticeable.

And thus lies part of Evangelion’s disappointment for me. After the first couple of typically Behemoth-y tracks, (”Daimonos”, “Shemhamforash”) where the excitement of a new Behemoth album overrides expectation and the enjoyment is highest, the album tends to blend into a rather relentless, dare I say Hate Eternal blast fest that blows by with an admittedly furious presence, but leaves little other impression. A couple of the albums tracks like personal favorite “He Who Breeds Pestilence” (with more than a nod to Nile with a ‘Mars, Bringer of War’ synth line), “Alas Lord is Upon Me” and the slow closer “Lucifer” reign things in but other wise the entire mid section of the album left me rather flat; In particular, “Shemhamforash” (after the excitement from the first couple of listens wears off), “Ov Fire and The Void” (arguably the album’s most rehashed track), “Transmigrating Beyond Realms Ov Amenti”, “The Seed Ov I”, and “Defiling Morality Ov Black God” just seemed ‘there’ to fill space with intense, relentless blasting flocked with some Esoteric Arabic tinkling here and there.

I’m sure I’m in the minority here, but the truth is, even with the opening tracks, nothing on Evangelion jumped out and truly commanded my attention like say “As Above, So Below”, “Pazuzu”, “Libertheme” or “Conquer All” did from prior albums, and to be quite frank, by the time the crawling 8-minute closer, “Lucifer” is halfway done, i’m prety sure i’ve heard most of the riffs on prior albums and I’m actually kind ov bored, which I never thought Id say about a Behemoth album.

That all being said, Evangelion is still a quality Behemoth album and you don’t expect anything ground breaking, but I didn’t expect it so sound so recycled, despite the strong performance of drummer Inferno and all the elements that made Behemoth so enjoyable and consistent before. Still, I imagine Evangelion will sneak onto a few shallow fan boy year end lists. But personally, I actually kind of miss the over the top, theatrical Nile worship of the last two albums.