Behemoth - I Loved You At Your Darkest

© Copyright - Behemoth

© Behemoth, Nuclear Blast 2018

Key Facts

Country: Poland 🇵🇱

Genre: Blackened Death Metal

Release Date: 5th October 2018

Record Label(s): Nuclear Blast, Metal Blade, Mystic

UK Album Chart Position: 42

Band Members: 

Adam "Nergal" Darski – lead vocals, guitars

Zbigniew "Inferno" Promiński – drums

Tomasz "Orion" Wróblewski – bass, backing vocals

Patryk "Seth" Sztyber – guitars, backing vocals

Production Personel:

Daniel Bergstrand - Producer

• Gurpa 13

• Slawek Wieslawscy

• Wojtek Wieslawscy

Review

Rating (out of 5 🤘); 🤘🤘🤘🤘
Favourite Track: Ecclesia Diabolica Catholica

Being the follow up of groundbreaking album The Satanist was no easy task, but Polish legends Behemoth are never afraid of a challenge or pushing the boundaries! I Loved You At Your Darkest (ILYAYD) stands out as one of my essential metal albums of 2018. Whilst it is known that Adam "Nergal" Darski has explored the country, blues and folk genres with side project Me & That Man, the melodic influence and carefully considered songwriting can clearly be heard on ILYAYD but there is definitely no lack of satanism but a lot more children's choirs! 

I was first made aware of Behemoth in 2014 after hearing Blow Your Trumpets Gabriel, lead single off The Satanist. Initially I did not enjoy the whole Satanic theme and I could not deal with the relentlessness and darkness of the song. It was not until 2017 that I decided to revisit black metal as whole (after I had grown up a little) and that is when the genius of Behemoth was fully revealed to me. Since then I have held a special place in my heart for this controversial Polish outfit. 

With The Satanist held in my head as a benchmark, I, like many other metal fans, eagerly awaited ILYAYD. When God = Dog was released as the first single off the album I was initially confused at the title as it felt a bit lazy in the name department. The song however, carried on where The Satanist left off, with the slightly more progressive feel yet still retaining the essential blackened death metal elements and similar in my opinion to Messe Noir. Second single, Wolves Ov Siberia, harkened back to the traditional black metal sound with modern production, but it's both ruthless and unforgiving! Both singles founded my expectations for the album (which were already high because of it's predecessor), and it is fair to say that I definitely believed the hype and was not disappointed! 

Overall the album is consistent and I believe shows Behemoth at their compositional best. Instead of being a ruthless ride with Satan himself from start to finish it shows a developed and experienced ear for atmospherics and builds on the foundations that the band set with The Satanist. The toned back sections help give the faster, harder passages extra significance, emphasising that this is not music for your church attending, Lord abiding Grandmother. One song that stood out to me most was Bartzabel the chant of "Come unto me Bartzabel" is both mesmerising and haunting in equal measure. Besides the composition, the production of the album is something I definitely want to aim for in my own work of the future, all the endless atmospheric layers have their place in the mix alongside the main instruments and vocals. This in turn makes every song and all encompassing soundscape that you get absorbed into. It helps materialise the images and messages the music is conveying, in my case images of dark medieval Europe where the "heathens" rule and Christianity is doomed. 

This album has been heavily in my rotation since it's release last October, perfect for destroying those winter blues. It has definitely inspired and influenced me just like The Satanist but in a slightly different way. If you're looking to get into the extreme side of metal, I would consider this album as a gateway to the multitude of other albums that carry the same themes. Behemoth continue to put Poland on the map and will forever be considered one of the greats of blackened death metal.