HEAVY MUSIC HISTORY: Evangelion – Behemoth
Flash back 15 years ago, and Polish blackened death metallers BEHEMOTH were establishing themselves as a genuine juggernaut in extreme music. Having played an important role in establish Poland’s black metal underground, the turn of the new century saw the band look to broaden their horizons. 2004’s Demigod, and later 2007’s excellent The Apostasy, saw BEHEMOTH expand on the blackened death metal soundscape first explored on 1999’s Satanica and strike a chord to establish themselves as a truly exciting name in extreme music.
Following successful jaunts with SUICIDE SILENCE across Europe and joining DIMMU BORGIR for their North American trek, with the wind in their collective sails attention would turn to crafting their ninth full-length record; Evangelion. Entering Radio Gdańsk in their native Poland in the February of 2009, the band look to create a sound that was blasphemous, big and bombastic.
Securing the talents of Daniel Bergstrand [MESHUGGAH, IN FLAMES, DARK FUNERAL] to produce Inferno‘s drums to give the record a more “organic and natural sound” through unconventional techniques including a big room for the drums to create ambience – something which can be heard at the heart of Evangelion‘s black heart – and celebrated British producer Colin Richardson [BOLT THROWER, CARCASS, MACHINE HEAD etc], BEHEMOTH would spend much of the first part of 2009 in the studio forging their latest blasphemous chapter. And the results would take the metal world by absolute storm.
Released in August 2009, Evangelion took what made Demigod and The Apostasy great and elevated their sound and ferocity to staggering new heights. Album opener Daimonos benefits from the booming organic drums, whilst devilish snarls from Nergal and frenetic extreme metal bedlam is orchestrated, whilst the likes He Who Breeds Pestilence and Alas, Lord Is Upon Me oozes an atmosphere that makes the skin crawl with nerves. Lead album single Ov Fire And The Void, to this day, still stands as one of the best songs in the band’s vast discography and remains a live staple (with the track’s accompanying blasphemous music video searing itself into the memories of many an impressionable teenager), and album closer, Lucifer, has become somewhat of a hidden gem in the BEHEMOTH back catalogue and upon reflection all these years later, it’s clear that the sprawling epic acted as the blueprint on what we’d hear from the band in the years ahead.
Upon its release to the world, Evangelion was met with critical acclaim from critics and fans alike. Scoring highly from esteemed outlets including Kerrang!, Metal Hammer, and dominating the polls in the former influential extreme metal magazine Terrorizer, Evangelion cemented BEHEMOTH as a the hottest band in extreme music. The band would enormously impress on a European run alongside SUICIDE SILENCE, MALEFICE, TRIGGER THE BLOODSHED and headliners DEVILDRIVER, before crossing the Atlantic to terrorize stages during the Evangelia Amerika Tour.
At that moment, it looked like BEHEMOTH had struck the iron whilst its hot, closing a trilogy of records that demonstrated their tenacity for aural hellfire and as a new decade dawned, the band looked set to build upon the momentum of 2009 with further support for Evangelion with campaigns in Japan, Australia and New Zealand and festival appearances at numerous open-air festivals across the European mainland.
But, as history now tells us, the dawn of the 2010s would see BEHEMOTH, and in particular band leader Nergal, undergo the most difficult moments of their career. First, in March, Nergal was held on trial in Poland on blasphemy charges for publicly denouncing religion by ripping up a Bible on stage in 2007, the first of many run-ins with Poland’s strict laws surrounding religion and blasphemy.
And then, things got worse. In August 2010, the frontman was rushed to hospital and diagnosed with leukaemia. Plans and activity to continue supporting Evangelion – including remaining festival shows and a North American tour with WATAIN, WITHERED and BLACK ANVIL – were shelved in order to focus on Nergal‘s treatment and subsequent recovery following a bone marrow transplant. By the January of the following year, Nergal had come out the other side and following his departure from, spent much of the year focused on his recovery and fuelling his motivation to return to the band and commence work on what would become their magnum opus; 2014’s The Satanist.
Today, BEHEMOTH are regarded as arguably one of the biggest bands in not just extreme metal, but heavy music as a whole. Although The Satanist would prove to be a vital piece of the puzzle in establishing the band’s claim for the throne, and today that record is considered one of the jewels of the extreme metal crowd, had it not been for Evangelion, this reality would be very different indeed. Although its initial impact might have been stunted by the two earth-shattering situations following its release, looking back 15 years later, Evangelion‘s role in establishing BEHEMOTH as the juggernaut they are today cannot be underestimated. For the best lesson in blasphemy, Evangelion is your teacher.
Evangelion was originally released on August 7th, 2009 via Nuclear Blast Records/Metal Blade Records.
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