Released by: Nuclear Blast
Release date: October 5, 2019
Production: Daniel Bergstrand
Album length: 46:32
Poland’s black metal giants Behemoth are these days seen by many as the leading name in the extreme metal scene. They shot their popularity sky-high with the 2014 album The Satanist, on which they ditched death metal in favor of black metal. Thanks to its great production and sheer pomp, the record blew past expectations and reached a much bigger audience. Behemoth promoted it for quite a while, and on the tour that stopped in Ljubljana they played it in full.
The follow-up took quite some time to come together. Frontman Nergal took his time, and he’s also not as bursting with ideas as he was a few years back. The one advantage he had this time was the budget, which let him land another richly produced album. Throughout 2018, Behemoth slowly teased new material that would, of course, live up to all expectations!
With the first tracks they released, Behemoth made it clear they’d nailed the style of their predecessor, so don’t expect any flirting with death metal here. There are exceptions, but they’re rare. The album opens with Solve, which is certainly dark. It also features a children’s choir, which makes the whole thing pretty kitschy. An interesting move, but it doesn’t quite work.
The transition into Wolves Ov Siberia promises little more than mediocrity. The track serves up pretty well-chewed-over black metal fare, and Behemoth seem a little reserved. There’s no real turning point, either. But things improve toward the end and quite a few tracks stand out. With God = Dog, Behemoth let you know they dedicated themselves to the album and approached it thoughtfully. Despite that thoughtfulness and the good production, the album has its ups and downs. On Ecclesia Diabolica Catholica and Bartzabel, the standout chorus makes it obvious Behemoth are aiming for the big arenas. The chorus’s pomp is pushed even further by a choir that even reminds me of Therion. In other words: easy on the ears, and not exactly extreme.
The main problem is that the record doesn’t work as a whole. Certain songs stand out more, while with others you get the feeling they were just there to pad out the running time. At the same time, quite a few tracks sound like the band was short on real inspiration, so there’s a string of cheap black metal filler. The reliance on clichés also leads to dryness, which you can hear on If Crucifixion Was Not Enough, Angelvs XIII and Sabbath Mater. The only thing that saves the day is the guitar solos, which give the songs a bit more life.
Behemoth give us more reason for hope with Havohej Pantocrator, which slowly builds toward a more aggressive section, and the finale hits its peak with atmosphere and pomp. After that, the album doesn’t offer anything all that outstanding through to the end.
Sonically, it’s all very rich. It doesn’t sound sterile either, which works really well for underlining the darkness. As for the drums, which aren’t as strong a factor as they were a decade ago, the sound deserves praise for coming across as relatively natural. Besides the guitars, the choir and orchestration are very well taken care of. The sound is definitely lush. Where it falters is Nergal’s vocals, which no longer have real power, so without that proper depth Behemoth don’t sound as brutal as they used to.
“I Loved You At Your Darkest” is without a doubt a record that newer fans will see as a career peak, but older fans will probably find it no better than average.
7/10
Musicians:
Adam “Nergal” Darski – vocals, guitar
Tomasz “Orion” Wróblewski – bass
Zbigniew Robert “Inferno” Promiński – drums
Tracklist:
- Solve
- Wolves ov Siberia
- God = Dog
- Ecclesia Diabolica Catholica
- Bartzabel
- If Crucifixion Was Not Enough…
- Angelvs XIII
- Sabbath Mater
- Havohej Pantocrator
- Rom 5:8
- We Are the Next 1000 Years
- Coagvla
