Behemoth has revealed their new album details. The long-awaited follow-up to 2014’s The Satanist is called I Loved You At Your Darkest on October 5th via Nuclear Blast. Frontman Nergal explains about the title – “It’s a verse from the Bible. It’s actually a quote from Jesus Christ himself. For BEHEMOTH to use it as the basis of our record, it’s sacrilege to the extreme.” Watch the video for the first single, ‘God = Dog’, now.
Discussing the last few years of turmoil for the band in their homeland of Poland and the album, Nergal explains: “Obviously, stuff like that can piss you off. But I think it’s good to be pissed off,” Nergal says with a laugh. “Anger can be a massive driving force, especially when you make extreme music. But politically and socially, Poland is a very disparate country. You can never feel totally safe here. That makes it easier for me to get inspiration. If I lived in Holland or Australia, I don’t think I’d be doing what I do now. You can do or be anything you want there. I’m a huge fan of that kind of freedom, but I don’t really have it here. Struggling with that on a daily basis makes me who I am, and fuels my passion for this music.”
“I really wanted to redefine ourselves with this record,” Nergal explains. “‘I Loved You At Your Darkest’ is a more dynamic record. It’s extreme and radical on one hand, but it’s also more rock-oriented than any other BEHEMOTH record.”
“We don’t give consideration to musical direction, we simply create what naturally comes to us. But 15 years ago, if you had asked me who I thought was the best band on the planet, I probably would have said MAYHEM or MORBID ANGEL. Today if you asked me, I’d say AC/DC. That should give you a clear indication of why this album is more rock-based. It all comes down to the songwriting.”
“It’s very religion-driven, maybe more than anything we’ve done before. But it’s not just cheap goading. I believe this is some deeper metal language. It’s art.”
“Pretty much every instrument was recorded in a different studio, and a lot of amazing people were involved.”
I Loved You At Your Darkest track listing:
01. Solve
02. Wolves Ov Siberia
03. God = Dog
04. Ecclesia Diabolica Catholica
05. Bartzabel
06. If Crucifixion Was Not Enough…
07. Angelvs XIII
08. Sabbath Mater
09. Havohej Pantocrator
10. Rom 5:8
11. We Are The Next 1000 Years
12. Coagvla