Nuclear Blast Records
9 May 2025
After nearly three and a half decades of delving into the depths of unrelenting and blasphemous Armageddon, Behemoth does not need, desire or require any introductions! They are a breed amongst themselves, which pretty much any band that has come out in fifteen years has been able to achieve. The truly recognisable godfathers of extremity are few, even with the plethora of mass-produced yawn-fest try-hards repeatedly regurgitating monotonously each year.
That said, whilst the black/death bands we all revere have, at times, summoned and sound as though they are resting on their laurels, Behemoth (in my opinion) have suffered this on past releases. Nothing changed, whilst interesting, some albums didn’t connect as we (I) would have liked or expected.
Forever the superiors of theatrical blaspheming anthems, Behemoth has no equal aside from early Cradle of Filth and Dimmu Borgir. But let’s be honest, their pinnacle is The Satanist. Here we bear witness to nothing short of pure magic and genius. From the opener of Blow Your Trumpets Gabriel to the truly masterful Messe Noir and holy fucking hell the opening riff to The Satanist is one of the greatest musical accomplishments laid to tape, it was always going to be difficult even for a band of Behemoth’s calibre to replicate anything near as profoundly mesmerising as this album. While I Loved You At Your Darkest and Öpvs Contra Narvram (still both excellently crafted in all facets as only Nergal can do) had a few captivating moments, nothing could ever draw me marginally close to wanting to re-listen to The Satanist repeatedly!
Now…The Shit Ov God! Whilst I was always going to buy and listen to Behemoth’s latest offering, my scepticism and expectations were going to be at their peak. Initially, I kept my judgments low, based on my previous experience with them. I held back on either negativity or positivity. There is a lot to unpack on The Shit Ov God. It is absolutely the epitome of my previous summarising analogy – Theatrical Blaspheming Anthems.
Have Behemoth rested on their laurels, achieved expectations or gone above and beyond?
Honestly, it is a melding of all three, inasmuch as I can’t fault The Shit Ov God in any way. Be sure, it is a fantastic addition to their enormous back catalogue and a statement of superiority of relevance and superiority amongst the sheee shite polluting the playlists of dime a dozen Spotify junkies. Track one – The Shadow Elite starts blisteringly strong and stamps captivating extremity, yet is a tad longer than it needs to be. Sowing Salt is crushing, melodic, short, sharp and to the point gold. Title track The Shit Ov God is a pulsating, hypnotic masterclass of both Nergal’s artistic songwriting and visual genius; In a word – Faultless!
Both Lvciferion and Ö Venus, Come evenly quantify the overall arch of Behemoth’s mauling distaste of all things profanely impious in the world. (One could only imagine the glee with which Nergal was viewing and evaluating the Pope’s recent death!) To Drown The Svn In Wine violently throbs along with the expected pace and volumes as heard previously, and barely switches our current listening reflexes to anything other than that of audio appreciation. Track eight and the album’s closer Avgvr (The Dread Vvltuvre) – (the second of my favourite tracks on the album) – is excellent and a breath of thanks should be prayerfully sighed as we conclude our latest gift from Behemoth.
Overall – The Shit Ov God is a worthy gift to their already bulging discography. It is absolutely excellent, but not brilliant. I didn’t love it or hate, but it will undoubtedly be a contender for a top extreme album release for 2025.
⛧⛧⛧⛧
