Apoch's Metal Review - Behemoth: Evangelion (Digipack Version) CD Review

Discography	Discography covers all information available up to day of review and is updated if future albums are reviewed.
Full-Length(s):	Sventevith (Storming Near the Baltic) (1995) • Grom (1996) • Pandemonic Incantations (1998) • Satanica (1999) • Thelma.6 (2000) Zos Kia Cultus (Here and Beyond) (2002) • Demigod (2004) • The Apostasy (2007) • Evangelion (2009)
EP(s):	And the Forests Dream Eternally (1994) • Bewitching the Pomerania (1997) • Antichristian Phenomenon (2001) • Conjuration (2003) Slaves Shall Serve (2005) • Ezkaton (2008)
Split(s):	And the Forests Dream Eternally/Forbidden Spaces (1997)
Single(s):	Ov Fire and the Void (2009)
Demo(s):	Endless Damnation (1992) • The Return of the Northern Moon (1993) • ...From the Pagan Vastlands (1994)
Compilation(s):	Demonica (2006) • Abyssus Abyssum Invocat (2011)
Live CD(s):	At the Arena ov Aion - Live Apostasy (2008)
DVD(s):	Live Eschaton (VHS) (2000) • Crush.Fukk.Create: Requiem for Generation Armageddon (2004) • Evangelia Heretika (2010)

Review

Behemoth have released their latest studio album the other day here in the States, and it was one of the much anticipated releases of the summer. Evangelion finds the band on Metal Blade Records, as well as with the band pretty much doingt he exact same thing they've done for the past couple albums now, with only a few changes. Sadly, while some of these changes improve the quality of the release, it's one really noticable one that kind of drags this release down.

The album starts off like any typical recent Behemoth album with the song "Daimonos". One thing you will notice immediately with the music is that it seems to be tighter, and just sounds better all around as far as the production of the release goes. This is a great thing, and also helps out with the vocals, as they feel much more natural now, and not as though the tenaciousness they have were meerly the product of pushing a few buttons on Cool Edit Pro. From "Daimonos" up to "Transmigrating Beyond Realms Ov Amenti" will have you head banging the whole way with it's intense music, but by the time you reach "He Who Breeds Pestilence", you'll notice something new, assuming you haven't already by the first track. Sure, you may not want to believe it, mostly because this is a new release from Behemoth and the hype of it is flowing through your veins.

But, it seems that, for some reason or another, the band has decided to impliment the philosophy of adding blast beats to pretty much every song, sometimes for no reason other then for a quick change up from a mid-paced track to a "faster" track, like done on "He Who Breeds Pestilence", as well as "The Seed Ov I" (which feels more like a filler track then anything, as well as "Alas, lord Is Upon Me"). For fans of the "third wave" of black metal, this will be a welcome addition, as constant blast beats are becoming notorious in black metal thanks to bands like 1349, but sadly it doesn't really work here. Now, this isn't to say the entire album is awful. This does work on some of the songs, but the problem is that it causes some of the tracks on this release to really lose structure and sound more like filler, regardless of how tight the music sounds. But, at least the album closes on a good note with "Defiling Morality Ov Black God", which the blast beats work well for, and "Lucifer", which is just a killer song to begin with, but ends as though there were more to it but the file was partially lost. Too bad, while extremely long songs can sometimes be a bore, this track could have made for a good ten plus minutes total.

Digipack Version:

The digipack version of this release comes with a bonus DVD that includes a documentary about the making of Evangelion, as well as a photo session. The making of DVD is essentially what you would expect, it's a well done documentary with behind the scenes footage of the band in the recording studio, as well as an interview with the band discussing how they came up with the CD, the process to record and all that. Much of the album is subtitled, and there really aren't many moments on here where the band speaks English, so if you hate reading text on the screen, you'll struggle to make it through this video. Another issue that will bother anyone watching it will be when they cut to the scenes using the handcams that aren't being supported outside of the human arm. Aside how shaky the video is, it's constantly blurring, which is enough to give anyone a migraine after exposure to that long enough. Sometimes it blurs for no reason whatsoever! A band member can stand in the recording room, not move, the camera doesn't zoom in or out, and all of a sudden that band member, who is meerly talking, is completely blurred out and then comes into focus quickly with the camera shaking even more then it was. The just under seven minute video of the photo shoot for Evangelion is essentially the same thing, but lacks a lot of the focus and zoom issues the Making Of video had, and is also a nice look at how the photos for the album came about.

So, with a few tracks that could be considered filler on here, such as "The Seed Ov I" and "Alas, Lord Is Upon Me", and an insane amount of blast beats causing Behemoth to appear as though they wish to join the third wave black metal club, Evangelion is a well produced album that sounds about the same as the more recent releases at the start, and manages to gracefully walk away with rather impressive ending. If you're a Behemoth fan, you'll enjoy this release, but for the casual fans, unless the band really breaks out with something different, and drops the amounts of blast beats, this is will probably be your last Behemoth purchase.

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	Physical review copy of this release provided by: Personal funds.

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