### Behemoth: Zos kia cultus

#### 10/05/04 || Lord K Philipson

Poland. Again. These days, Poland equals quality death metal to me and this is no exception to the rule. I had heard the name of this band quite a few times in the past, without actually being able to hear any of their music. That means I never considered buying anything by these fuckers. But thanx to various friends, their latest plastic piece of muzak lands on my desk. And I thank them for it. Not Behemoth, my friends. Behemoth did fucken nothing to make sure the Lord could get his bloodstained hands on this one.

To get this out of the way… Who plays bass? Who fucken cares? It´s not like you can hear it anyways. As with most metal-albums. Anypoo, bass or no bass, I like this. I would even go out of my way and say I like it quite alot. So I´ll do that: I like this quite alot.

Sure it doesn´t give me Avril Lavigne vibes, or a hard on like Alice DeeJay does, but this is some fucken good shit. I hear elements of unknown bands like Morbid Angel, Zyklon, Emperor, Vader and whatthefucknot. Allover impressive work, both production-wise and music-wise. These guys can play for sure and Inferno does his best to impress me with blasting beats and doublebasses. I guess you could say he succeeds. You could also say that Colorado Avalanche has started off the season as a second grade AHL-team, it´s just as true.

Obviously these wankers began their crusade for domination (which is pointless, domination is MY name and MY game) as some corpse-painted black metal band, that might be one of the reason I never found any interest in Behemoth. Over the years they have cleaned out their closet and gotten rid of the make-up. I think that was a wise move, but I have no idea, they might have been piss-good even b(l)ack in those days, but I doubt it. Just a gut-feeling, and I´m always right. Even if I´m wrong I´m right. That´s the benefit of being me, the Lord.

So, what are we dealing with here? In case you didn´t see the references to the bands mentioned earlier, this is death metal with some possible black metal chords thrown in for good measure. Vocalist Nergal isn´t the best, nor the worst vocalist around. Just average growling that will never make me drop my pants and wank the coyote. Goes in one ear, out the other. Fits the music, nothing more, nothing less. Basic fucken growling to put words on it. What is impressive though is the guitarwork and the drumming. If you have in mind that Nergal does guitar and vocals, then atleast I´m a little bit more impressed. There are alot of good tracks and a few killer-tracks on this album. “As above so below” clocks in over 5 minutes and is my favourite out of the million tracks this album holds. Funny I mentioned Zyklon earlier, Behemoth must have liked the “World ov worms” title by those church-burners as they have not one, not two, but 3 “of“´s changed to “ov”. Why do something bad yerself when you can steal from more talented people. Or something.

Rodney Dangerfield.

In case you feel like getting this and you are remotely interested in high-quality death metal with a somewhat groove, you will not be disappointed by Behemoth.

Alot of bands get a 7 1/2 rating out of 10 from me, Behemoth is the fuckzoids next in line for that score. So:

7.5 horns out of 10.

- Information
- Released: 2002
- Label: Avantgarde
- Website: www.behemoth.metalkings.com
- Band
- Nergal: guitar, vocals
- Havok: guitar
- Inferno: drums
- Novy: bass

- Tracklist
- 01. Horns Of Baphomet
- 02. Modern Iconoclasts
- 03. Here And Beyond
- 04. As Above So Below
- 05. Blackest Of The Black
- 06. Hekau 718
- 07. The Harlot Of The Saints
- 08. No Sympathy For Fools
- 09. Zos Kia Cultus
- 10. Fornicatus Benifictus
- 11. Typhonian Soul Zodiack
- 12. Heru Ra Ha Let There Be Might