Behemoth – The Shit ov God (Review)

Behemoth are a Polish blackened death metal band and this is their thirteenth album.

I thoroughly enjoyed 2018’s I Loved You at Your Darkest, but somehow missed its follow up. Not so with The Shit ov God, which gives us – dodgy name aside – 39 minutes of new material from Behemoth’s charismatic blend of death and black metal.

Behemoth offer us another enjoyable romp through their professional and well-crafted brand of blackened death metal. They are very adept at their art at this point, and know exactly how to build a song from compelling riffs and dark atmospheres.

Each Behemoth album offers something a little different, and the same can be said of The Shit ov God. Sound-wise, it sits somewhere between their their 2014+ era and their older aggression, around 2004 or so. Like I Loved You at Your Darkest, the black metal components in the Behemoth sound are still displayed more prominently than their more death metal-focused work, which allows the band to mix aggression and atmosphere well.

I’m always surprised by how big Behemoth have become, but in some way I suppose I shouldn’t be. The Shit ov God showcases exactly the short of dark heaviness I can imagine being torn out at larger venues. Having said that, I’m still surprised, as there’s more extremity here than there is in the music of most bands of Behemoth’s stature. A fire still burns at the heart of this band, and it’s great to hear.

I admit, I’m a sucker for Behemoth. I’ve been listening to them since 1998 when I first bought Satanica. As such, I’m certainly biased, but I still can’t help but really like The Shit ov God, (title aside). It has songs. It has riffs. It has atmosphere and character. It hits the spot. What’s not to like? This is big budget extreme metal, and for me, it works a treat.