Are Behemoth The Most Dangerous Band In Metal Right Now?

Some of you may have heard the buzz on a blackened death metal band from Poland called Behemoth, who recently released their Metal Blade debut, Evangelion.

For others, this buzz is more like a building roar that has been gradually growing louder for the last 18 years. Evangelion is actually Behemoth's ninth full-length album, and if you didn't know who they are by now, their latest opus will make sure that you do know and never forget.

But as the band grows in popularity, Behemoth have attracted some unwanted followers. Although they're recognized mostly for their musical abilities, Behemoth's controversial views on occultism and Christianity, and their taking inspiration from figures such as Aleister Crowley and Austin Osman Spare, have earned them the attention of protestors in their native Poland, where laws prohibit religiously offensive acts.

But Behemoth frontman and creative mastermind Nergal is hardly fazed by any legal action from his fellow countrymen.

"There are some organizations and institutions that think they have a right to judge what's wrong and right," Nergal says. "They tried to do something, they made attempts but they failed because they can't really do much.

"They tried to bring me to court for tearing up the Bible on stage. They tried to stop the show, they sent out letters saying Behemoth is this and that, that we're public enemy number one or that we're dangerous. But it hardly has any effect really.

"They actually do a lot of like PR for us — it's pretty good promotion. But we really don't need this kind of recognition. I don't give a fuck. I want to be known for the music that I make."

There's an old saying: it's always black to the blind. At first glance, Nergal might seem the epitome of evil with his corpse-painted face screaming lyrics such as "None of thy empty gods shall ever stand above me!"

But those familiar with the band know that Nergal, a.k.a. Adam Darski, is actually an educated man who has completed six years of university majoring in history. He references a variety of literature in Behemoth's work, including passages from the Bible and provides alternative points of view of religion and life. Still, for many Christian communities, alternative viewpoints are always wrong.

"For the majority it will always be evil, black and dangerous, which is cool because in a way that suits who we are," says Nergal. "But for me, I'm not a really depressing person. I'm not a self-destructive person at all. I'm actually quite the opposite. I try to be as natural as I can.

"Of course, there is some kind of acting because in a way we are actors on stage. But I can even laugh on stage. If something makes me smile I fucking do. So that's what Behemoth represents. It represents myself, my state of mind, my true I.

"We're a very philosophical band. You need to learn how to read between the lines to understand the true meaning of Behemoth. And the true meaning is there is no true meaning. The meaning is what each one of you listeners will give to the songs. There is not, like, a universal meaning.

"Of course, we have hateful songs like 'Christgrinding Avenue' or 'Christians To The Lions.' They're just fucking evil. What else can I say about those songs? And then there's songs that have a very deep meaning and are not very easy to analyze."

They may be difficult to analyze, but they appear to be pushing a lot of danger buttons. The unedited version of the band's latest video "Ov Fire And The Void" was removed from YouTube shortly after it was put up.

"I'm not really the best person to analyze my own work," Nergal explains. "People always ask me about the lyrics. It's just momentum. I just catch the momentum and use metaphors to express myself and the next day I don't know what it was all about. It's the momentum. It's not like we're telling people stories.

"Most bands are like, 'This song is a story about this guy who did this and that.' There is no place for that in Behemoth. Same goes for the video. The video is pretty fucking violent, it has a lot of nudity, there's blood, so that's what some of the censors consider not proper for a younger audience.

"I don't really think it's that brutal, but that's just my perception, but maybe mine is different than other people's perception. You know, I was actually pretty happy when it was taken off of YouTube after only two hours or something, because it just means we did something meaningful and people can't ignore it, which is good."

Behemoth have worked long and hard to establish their legion of diehard followers and will continue to spread their message to an expanding legion of fans all over the world and they're not going to let a little controversy get in their way.

"It's a lot of effort and hard work that's paying of right now. It didn't just happen last season. It's been 18 years of struggle, of pushing, of sacrificing and it's just paying off now. But we're not slowing down, we're taking the band to the next level and I promise you this is not the last word we says."

Here are Behemoth's upcoming tour dates:

Aug. 28 Tel Aviv, Israel @ Barby Club
Sept. 12 Recarei Paerdes, Portugal @ Caso Emergente Festival
Sept. 24 Bialystok, Poland @ Gwint
Sept. 25 Warsaw, Poland @ Stodola
Sept. 26 Lublin, Poland @ Club Graffiti
Sept. 27 Rzeszow, Poland @ Pod Palma
Sept. 28 Krakow, Poland @ Klub Studio
Sept. 29 Katowice, Poland @ Mega Club
Sept. 30 Wroclaw, Poland @ WZ
Oct. 1 Lodz, Poland @ Dekompresja
Oct. 2 Poznan, Poland @ Eskulap
Oct. 3 Torun, Poland @ Od Nova
Oct. 4 Gdansk, Poland @ Klub Parlament
Oct. 16-17 London, England @ Relentless Garage
Oct. 18 Leeds, England @ Rios
Oct. 19 Nottingham, England @ Rock City
Oct. 20 Glasgow, Scotland @ The Garage
Oct. 21 Manchester, England @ Manchester Academy 2
Oct. 23 Wolverhampton, England @ Wulfrun Hall
Oct. 24 Newcastle Upon Tyne, England @ O2 Academy Newcastle
Oct. 27 Paris, France @ La Locomotive
Oct. 28 Cologne, Germany @ Essigfabrik
Oct. 29 Frankfurt, Germany @ Batschkapp
Oct. 30 Bochum, Germany @ Matrix
Oct. 31 Stuttgart, Germany @ LKA-Longhorn
Nov. 1 Antwerp, Belgium @ Hof Ter Lo
Nov. 3 Enschede, Netherlands @ Atak
Nov. 4 Leeuwarden, Netherlands @ Poppodium Romein
Nov. 6 Linz, Austria @ Posthof
Nov. 7 Munich, Germany @ Backstage Munchen
Nov. 8 Prague, Czech Republic @ Abaton
Nov. 9 Nuremberg, Germany @ Hirsch
Nov. 10 Graz, Austria @ Seifenfabrik Veranstaltungszentrum
Nov. 11 Innsbruck, Austria @ Hafen
Nov. 12 Pratteln, Switzerland @ Z7 Konzertfabrik
Nov. 13 Vienna, Austria @ Arena Wien
Nov. 14 Leipzig, Germany @ Hellraiser-Leipzig
Nov. 15 Hamburg, Germany @ Markthalle
Nov. 17 Gothenburg, Sweden @ Tradgarn
Nov. 18 Malmo, Sweden @ Kulturbolaget
Nov. 19 Stockholm, Sweden @ Klubben
Nov. 20 Aarhus, Denmark @ Voxhall
Nov. 21 Berlin, Germany @ Columbia Club