BEHEMOTH Opvs Contra Natvram | Weekly Heavy Metal Album Review

Released by Nuclear Blast Records on September 16th, 2022

Quick Background

Behemoth is a Polish extreme metal band formed in 1991. They are considered to have played an important role in establishing the Polish extreme metal underground. Specially since 1999's Satanica  the band sound is by most considered to be Blackened death metal. Last albums have received critical acclaim and the band has grown to a position to headline festivals. Behemoth was formed as a trio, with Adam Darski, a.k.a ‘Nergal’ on guitar and vocals. The frontman and lead songwriter is the only found member left and continues to be the brains and driving force behind the band's success. With that said the line up continues to be a trio but with the fourth member being a session guitarist. This formation has been stable since 2004. 

Opvs Contra Natvram

It's their 12th studio album following 2018's I Loved You at Your Darkest. The new effort brings us 10 tacks in 45 minutes. The Album title means going against the current.

Behemoth take their time to get started as the intro track," Post-God Nirvana" is about 3 minutes of sound effects, screams, spoken words and some tribal chanting. It creates the mood and it can certainly be used to open their concerts. The very short and voracious "Malaria Vvlgata" follows. it's a punch in the face, almost a punk song. "Off To War!" which already became a live favorite is another super fast tempo and aggressive song, but more dynamic. Another aggressive song is "Disinheritance" and what I love about it are the drum fills during the intro! "Once Upon A Pale Horse" is another song with very cool drumming, but the hallmark here is this power metal-ish vibe, but since it is still death metal, it makes me think on Amon Amarth. Even the guitar solo is quite clean and melodic. It's a nice touch to the album. 

"The Deathless Sun" has plenty of aggression and melody, a combination that the band has mastered, and to me it sounds like a bridge between the 2014's masterpiece The Satanist and the band of today. It's one of my favorite songs on the album. "Ov My Herculean Exile" was the first single out of the album and follows the same veins as the previous track. But even more epic and midtempo with a long build up intro. 

As the album approaches the end we get one more super fast and aggressive song "Thy Becoming Eternal" featuring several vocal layers and choirs specially in the mid section interlude. It paves the way nicely into the album closer "Versvs Christvs". The longest song on the album with 6:30 is a dynamic one, with voice over piano, choirs, and a slow build up leading to blasting riffs.  It closes the album in a very high note.

Production is great and performances as well. No surprises that Nergal is signing particularly well on this album and also the drums are quite engaging. Guitar work is not their highlight but it does an excellent job wrapping up the package. 

The Picky Guy

Honestly I don't know what to complain here. "Disinheritance" is the only song that doesn't completely appeal to me as the rest of the album does. For the rest it is a perfect modern Behemoth album.

Wrap Up Opinion 

Opvs Contra Natvram is a heavy album and a natural evolution from The Satanist and Loved You At Your Darkest, it's super aggressive but also epic and melodic. It's also dynamic showing several influences from death metal to black metal but also very melodic moments. I didn't expect much from this album and I thought I'd brush it off quickly, but the truth is I found myself addicted to it and I came to the realization that it's a very fucking good album. 83/100 and potentially higher as I continue to listen to it.  If you like this phase of the band you gonna love this. Check it out. 

SCORE: 83/100

Genre: Death Metal

Released by Nuclear Blast Records on September 16th, 2022

Rating System

99 - 100 Perfect
94 - 98 Excellent
87 - 93 Great
82 - 86 Very Good
77 - 81 Good
66 - 76 Mixed
58 - 65 Bad

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