Opvs Contra Natvram

If you're inclined to believe the hype behind Behemoth's 2014 monumental album The Satanist, it was heralded to be one of the greatest metal albums of the 2010s upon it's release. As a result, the band exploded in popularity at the time and the album is still highly regarded to this day. Being a young adult myself during the era of The Satanist as well as a massive fan of it, I was eager for it's follow up to come sooner rather than later. Four long years passed, but we finally got I Loved You At Your Darkest in 2018. Despite the negative criticism it received on this site as well as others, I still find parts of that album really enjoyable. Equal parts brave new direction and "tried and true" to the sound of The Satanist, the album did things I never expected to hear on a Behemoth album. Fast forward another four long years, and here we have Opvs Contra Natvram in 2022. With Opvs, Behemoth continue on the aforementioned brave new direction. While not directly trying to recreate The Satanist, the band seems to take aspects from their masterpiece, and combine them with ideas from the more recent effort. We still have chanting choirs as did ILYAYD, but here they are used more sparsely and to greater effect. It's as if Nergal and the boys wanted to add a little more flavor to their Satanist sound with ILYAYD, but didn't quite get the seasoning right. Here, however, they seemed to perfect the blend and it shows in strides throughout the the songwriting.

Firstly, the opening song Post-God Nirvana offers a good subtlety of what's to come by enticing the listener with a pounding melancholy of tribal drums and a plodding black metal riff. This then leads us into the true opener Malaria Vvlgata; which pummels the listener with standard Behemoth flavors of blast beats and tremolo riffs. While not quite an incredible song, it showcases the band's talent in both speed and brutality. At just over 2 minutes long, it doesn't overstay it's welcome but rather kicks down the door to make way for the rest of the album's offerings.

The Deathless Sun, to me is the first track we get on the album that contains that grandiose epic feeling so often felt through moments on The Satanist. With the choirs chanting "I AM NOTHING I AM NO ONE" behind the guitar riffs and drums, the song is both crushing and melodic and easily an album highlight.

As for the B side of the album, I can only say it continues to get better. My two favorite tracks here are Once Upon a Pale Horse and the album closer Versvs Christvs. The former being a more mid-tempo groovy headbanger, while the latter is the epic conclusion to what I would consider the true follow up to The Satanist. With bits of ominous piano and spoken word vocals from Nergal in the first minute or so, the stage is set for an eerie yet monumental whirlwind of blackened death metal goodness on this final song.

Overall, the album stands on it's own within Behemoth's discography. The band didn't directly plagiarize themselves by attempting to re-create the last two albums, nor did they revert to a sound from earlier on in their career. True, it is no The Satanist, but damn is it close in terms of grandiosity. If I could give one criticism of the album as a whole...I suppose I would have appreciated some brevity on a lot of the songs' guitar solo-ing. They are fantastic, true, but tend to wail on for just a few seconds too long in spots.

As the title of this review states, I believe this to be the true follow up to the masterful The Satanist. Despite having several highlights, it's predecessor ILYAYD strayed too far from what is to be expected of Behemoth, both for myself and many other fans. Opvs, on the other hand, does at times feel like The Satanist pt. 2 but also becomes something of it's own. While it doesn't rise on it's own as an equal to The Satanist (and I'm not sure that anything could), it also doesn't go too far into roads untaken. Bold, yet familiar. Expected, yet unexpected. The album is a testament to Behemoth's legacy and talent, and I personally cannot wait to hear more... just please in less than 4 years this time, Nergal.