If I had to describe the melancholy mood of the album in one word, I would call it dramatic. Because although naturally hardness and speed, including blast beats and double bass are included, dominate here between powerful growls, technically sophisticated riffing, complex bass line and groovy Guitarrensoli not angry orgies of violence, but evocative, multilayered rather mid-tempo songs in technically flawless brilliance where sometimes in the background strings, choirs and brass weighed. A lot of variety is on offer on this album. And so the listening experience with each passage grows.
No whatever kind intro, Behemoth come straight to the point: The opening song "Blow Your Trumpets Gabriel" starts with a distinctive riff and evolves into a schwarzmetallischem Requiem with theatrical brass that makes immediately clear that Behemoth stylistically not just slavishly their previous albums copy, but have evolved. Only "Furor Divinus" and "Messe Noir" offer first acoustic indigestible mess, the latter merges into almost classic heavy metal riffs, including solo. This is followed with "Ora Pro Nobis Lucifer" the most straightforward song on the album with a continuous double bass thunderstorm and the bludgeoning board "Amen", which would fit as the only piece on one of the last albums. After that comes with the title song "The Satanist" a track that has more deep black hard rock than metal, and is a real highlight, which ends on trombone sounds despite Blast-Beat-finals rather than sedate funeral march. The subsequent, Arab-inspired "Ben Sahar" then again offers neat fuel for the ears, while "In The Absence Ov Light" surprises with an acoustic midsection including sax solo. The epic, doomy anthem "O Father O Satan O Sun!" then closes the album on a pensive mood and manages simultaneously to sound brutal and vulnerable.
Is the content of the album title program, which Nergal's personal experience with a potentially deadly cancer, associated with the realization that everything is impermanent, the band apparently additional (descent into hell) gave fire. There are to each song in the booklet next to the partly difficult to read because calligraphic Lyrics also an associated quote from the Bible and a short explanatory text accompanying. The manuscripts and the mystical album art come from the Russian painter Denis Forkas and round off the harmonious overall picture.
In summary, Behemoth have a piece sets out wide new with "The Satanist", thereby creating a deeply organic, versatile and this gloomy Abum showing no discernible weaknesses. It's no fun album, but has a deeply black soul. The bar for 2014 is therefore very high.
