Look, I am absolutely Team Nergal. In the run-up to the release of this album, he’s had to contend with formal charges of blasphemy in his home country. In this century. Thankfully, he was able to avoid being tied to any stakes.

Behemoth are the kings of the Extreme Metal subgenre. They have been destroying tempos and vocal chords and relgious convictions for over thirty years now, and show no signs of mellowing or slowing down. Their new 2022 release is every bit as brutal as the sounds of their past, with blast beats, drum tempos, and alt-picking to break every speed limit law. And it’s a gorgeous ugliness - - the production on “Opvs Contra Natvram” is absolutely stellar. Evey instrument, every deep-throated spoken-word section projects with power and defiance.
After a compelling opening in “Post-God Nirvana” and “Malaria Vulgata,” they plow through a bunch of mediocre material, saving the best for the last, peaking with the closing three tracks: “Once Upon a Pale Horse,” “Thy Becoming Eternal,” and “Versus Christus.” This is where the epic black grandeur of their best songs: “Blow Your Trumpets Gabriel” and “O Father O Satan O Sun” of their 2014 opus, “The Satanist,” comes back.
The opener and closers on “Opvs Contra Natvram” are the tunes I will return to in the future. The rest of the stuff in between simply failed to hold my interest.