Review Summary: Behemoth do their best impersonation ov themselves.
For the last decade, or more specifically since they began their shift away from black and towards death metal, Behemoth have been a model ov consistency. Steadily improving since Inferno got behind the kit after the craptastic, blacktastic
Grom, Behemoth arguably hit their stride on
Demigod, the pummelling and hilariously layered album that pushed them into the forefront ov modern death metal. But even if you see
Demigod as their peak, you can't ignore what comes next; like I said, a model ov consistency. If you're me, which you're not unless I'm reading this, Behemoth's consistency is also the biggest thing holding them back. As an aside and perhaps an exception that proves the rule, Nergal's vocals have at least become consistently less layered and, as a result, less cartoon-y, less hilarious and a hell ov a lot better. This started on
The Apostasy and only improved on
Evangelion.
Even when you look at the finer intricacies that separate Behemoth albums --whether it be looser structures or tighter production, throat-y yells or layered growls, Eastern-ish scales or muddy chugging-- the fact remains that these guys have been doing essentially the same thing since 1999's
Satanica. Fans are going to eat it up, as will the casual death metal fans. Hell, even the supposed elitists will find something to like here. See,
Evangelion is, from start to finish, pretty good. Pretty brutal, pretty melodic...pretty interchangeable. For that reason it becomes yet another volume in their almost bi-yearly assault. The song titles may be different, but we've still got V's for F's and Inferno still needs his ritalin. The resulting effect is we run out ov things to pin-point: there may be scales instead ov pinch harmonics, gravity blasts instead ov regular blasts, but the differences between
Evangelion and
The Apostasy and
Satanica and
Demigod are marginal at best. At worst, negligible. In the end, take
Evangelion for a spin if you expect competency and adequacy. For what it's worth, it's worth at least a spin. For some,
Evangelion may be the best thing Behemoth has done in their death metal incarnation, for some it might be the worst. Sadly, this has less to do with polarization and more to do with irrelevance. What you hear is what you get with Behemoth and for most people that's enough. Those looking for something a little more definitive might want to give
Evangelion little more than a passing glance, but anyone aiming for nothing more than a healthy slice ov modern death metal would be foolish to pass this over.
