FROM THE CRYPTS - CELEBRATING PAST ALBUM RELEASES in the HISTORY of HARD ROCK & HEAVY METAL…
On October 25, 1999, Behemoth released their fourth full-length studio album, Satanica via Avantgarde Music in Italy and Peaceville Records in the UK.
The album was previously released in Poland via Metal Mind Records on August 9, 1999 and later released in the US on August 22, 2000 via Dwell Records. Much of the music in this release is Death Metal with influences of Black Metal, now commonly known as Blackened Death Metal. It was recorded at the Starcraft Stimulation Studios and mastered in Warsaw, Poland in 1999.
Background:
After another extensive tour in support of Pandemonic Incantations, Behemoth signed a two-album deal with Italy's Avantgarde Music in the fall of 1998. The first result of this new collaboration was the successful album Satanica, on which their Black Metal sound had now evolved into Blackened Death Metal.
The label also secured two European tours for the band in support of Deicide and Satyricon respectively. During that period, Behemoth had to go through some line-up changes and had problems with their ex-Polish label. By the time Satanica came out, Inferno and Les were out of the band. Nergal began looking for new members but could not find a new drummer. Inferno returned to the band in early 2000, along with new members Novy (formerly known from Devilyn, Vader and Dies Irae), who handled the bass duties, and Havok, who became the band's guitarist.
Critical Reception:
Satanica received rave reviews, with Pedro Azevedo’s review for Chronicles of Chaos stating; “Few, very few opening tracks have ever managed to blow me away like Decade of Oepion did. Would all the album have been as devastatingly excellent and it would have definitely received full marks from me. However, the previous sentence should not be seen as indication that Satanica contains one superb track and then just some more or less average material; in fact, the following seven tracks are all very impressive as well and there is plenty of material on Satanica well worth a 10 out of 10, even though the amazing power of Decade of Therion is the definite highlight of the album. Satanica is a hugely intense and powerful album throughout, thanks to a superb rhythmic backbone, devastating guitar work and tremendous vocals, all this delivered through equally talented production. For some reason, I had never really noticed this Polish band before, but the nearly 25 minute long live CD that comes with the limited edition version of Satanica for a slight increase in price got me in touch with some of their more than likely impressive back catalogue. The live CD features decent sound and a competent performance from the band. Though as far as I know Behemoth have been known to this date as a Black Metal band, Satanica has a venomous, sharp and brutal sound that contains plenty of high-speed Death Metal elements which the band really takes to very unusual heights. And since Behemoth are from Poland, there's one more thing that may be relevant for this review: I found Satanica quite superior to anything I've heard from Vader so far.”
Note: The reviews shared here are for historical reference. The views and opinions expressed within are not always supported (in full or in part) by Into the Wells. — E.N. Wells
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