I Loved You at Your Darkest

I started following Nergal on social media a couple of years ago, the dude loves to preach constantly about how he matured and evolved over the years. I do not mind maturing nor evolving as long as its result is a better self. At first, I appreciated the continuous talk about evolving. Evolution and maturity reflected on The Satanist were the reason I started following him on first place. I was looking forward to experience how further their music has evolved in the new album. Little did I know, their music has evolved into a parody of The Satanist and they shamelessly tried capitalizing on its success.

ILAYD feels and sounds like it is an extended second disc of The Satanist that lacks the basic elements of blackened death metal or extreme music. Many of the songs sounded like they are trying their hardest to sound the way the previous album did, but fell short of that. Guitar riffs are mellow and far from being extreme and Inferno’s performance sounds like Nergal has tied up his hands and feet to slow him down, but still manages to break loose every now and then. When he breaks loose, he plays those weird tom-toms in “Angelvs XIII" and “Sabbath Mater”.

It all starts with an intro supposed to spook and creep the living hell out of you by kids reciting somewhat blasphemous lyrics. Quite the contrary, it was dull, boring and out of place. It sounded like a class reciting their forced and apathetic morning prayers. After the horrendous intro, comes the only decent song in the whole album “Wolves ov Siberia” and it should not be THE decent song in a Behemoth album. “Wolves ov Siberia” would have been my least favorite in any other Behemoth record, but here, it is the only song with consistently decent blackened death guitar riffs and drum line throughout the whole song. Then, boredom reigns on the rest of the album! Other than a couple of catchy choruses and riffs in “Bartzabel” and “Havohej Pantocrator”, the songs are weak, forgettable, boring, and at times bothersome. Take the chorus on “Sabbath Mater” for example. What is that? Is that supposed to create an atmosphere or something? It is just cringe worthy. On top of that, comes Nergal’s mediocre vocals. You might blame it on his age or previous illness, but they definitely added insult to injury.

Other than the theatrical display, there is nothing positive to mention. Artwork is dark and brilliant, and their video clips offered shock value and uniqueness that I am sure satisfied the band. They earned my 10% review rate from that and obviously made a few bucks with their art gallery displays.

I have to admit, my mind has drifted away a few times while listening to the record because of the lack of originality and repetitive riffs. In order to judge the record properly I had to listen to the record multiple times, which made my experience worse. I am all for music evolution and maturity, and I know musicians need to make money and attract new audience. Not this way, this is a cheap way to do so. This is not a revolutionary album, but a dark moment in the band's history.