Behemoth: Sventevith-Storming Near the Baltic (remastered)

If you popped in this 1994 release from Poland's Behemoth without knowing anything about the album or the band, you would swear it was an early release from perhaps Immortal , Emperor, Naglfar, Dimmu Borgir, or any other Scandinavian black metal band. Alas, Sventevith (Storming Near the Baltic ) is Behemoth early on in their career before they morphed into a punishing, brutal, and technical death metal machine. In the beginning, Nergal (guitars, vocals, bass) and his ever changing line-up of musicians performed a raw form of black metal that sounded unlike anything coming out of Poland, complete with evil vocal shrieks, raging, tremelo picked guitars, murderous blast beats, and chilling atmospheric keyboards & effects. Sounds like something out of the cold mountains of Norway? You bet. Give a listen to Sventevith and their most recent Demigod back to back and you'll be convinced it's two different bands. Despite the difference, this album still shows Behemoth as a formidable extreme metal band. Nergal's demonic wailings and thunderous riffing plays well off the manic drums and orchestral keys on "Hidden in the Fog", and the truly breathtaking "From the Pagan Vastlands" is a monster of a black metal piece, and still a part of the Behemoth live set from time to time. On this release Baal is on the drum kit, and while he might not be up to the same level of skin bashing that some of the drummers on the current black metal scene are at, he does a fine job here. For those who like plenty of symphonic elements in their black metal, there's no shortage of keyboards on these songs, more used for effect than anything else, but it adds some depth to these otherwise crushing pieces. Lyrically, this one deals with medieval Slav history & folklore, plus plenty of pagan references. Soundwise, as with most of the early-mid-90's black metal recordings, there is a certain rawness, an abrasive element, that permeates throughout the album, and while the remaster by Metal Mind I'm sure cleaned up things a little, there's a good chance they didn't do too much so as to keep the original ambiance of the recording intact. The booklet captures all the lyrics, original artwork and photographs, making this a must have remaster for Behemoth fans as well as those into the early black metal sounds.

Track Listing
1. Chant of the Eastern Lands
2. Touch of Nya [Instrumental]
3. From the Pagan Vastlands
4. Hidden in the Fog
5. Ancient [Instrumental]
6. Entering the Faustian Soul
7. Forgotten Cult of Aldaron
8. Wolves Guard My Coffin
9. Hell Dwells in Ice
10. Transylvanian Forest

Added: October 16th 2007
Reviewer: Pete Pardo
Score:
Related Link: Behemoth Website
Hits: 3539
Language: english

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