Album review: Behemoth – The Shit Ov God

For over 30 years Behemoth have needled the religious-political status quo with increasingly unsubtle heresies. Subjected to repeated blasphemy charges in their native Poland, and landing a hammer blow for humanism and free-speech with unrepentant 2014 masterpiece The Satanist in the wake of frontman Nergal’s treatment for leukemia, they have largely succeeded. A further decade down the line, however, with Nergal having long since outed himself as a social media mischief maker, the staggeringly on-the-nose lead in for 13th album The Shit Ov God has some asking whether it might be a blunt, borderline-cringe jumping of the shark. No – it’s a vital, visceral statement on the everlasting need to remain at war with our gods.

“We chose this provocative title deliberately, rejecting subtlety in favour of a direct and polarising statement,” Nergal explains. “It's a defiant plunge into the depths, daring to seek the absolute even in the gutter.”

Indeed, from the infernal churn that gets us underway on The Shadow Elite, it’s clear that this is prime Behemoth, as emboldened in their blackened death metal pomp as their diabolical messaging. Sowing Salt is the complex, mind-bending sound of a band who’ve become accustomed to playing the most extreme music on the grandest stages imaginable. The title-track itself threatens to collapse under the weight of operatic wailing, bludgeoning riffs and lyrics as blunt as they are blasphemous, but it feels more convincing in the context of the album than as a stand-alone single.

Distilling the vitriol into a lean, mean eight tracks, there is no filler here. Lvciferaeon condenses an epic attack into just over four minutes, To Drown The Svn In Wine is a brilliant, blastbeaten rollercoaster ride, Nomen Barbarvum levels up the suffocating heft.

At the same time, there is no doubt that this is a landmark release. Thirteen is a number of mystical significance – 13 attendees at Christ’s last supper, 13 witches in a coven – and Nergal himself has stressed that were this to be Behemoth’s final release, he would be proud.

As the grandiose, faintly groovy O, Venvs Come segues into closing maelstrom Avgvr (The Dread Vvltvre) it’s easy to believe. Not because this is the greatest the Gdańsk devils have ever sounded, but because The Shit Ov God is such compelling proof of the indefatigable courage of their convictions and the transcendental power of musical darkness. It's the shit!

Verdict: 4/5

For fans of: Watain, Nile, Rotting Christ

The Shit Ov God is released on May 9 via Nuclear Blast

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