It doesn’t get more blasphemous than this,” declares Behemoth mastermind Nergal, about the band’s upcoming album, “I Loved You At Your Darkest” – due out October 5th via Metal Blade Records (North America) / Nuclear Blast (Europe). While it certainly seems an unlikely title for a black metal band, its origin might surprise fans even more than the words themselves.
“It’s a verse from the Bible,” Nergal reveals. “It’s actually a quote from Jesus Christ himself. For Behemoth to use it as the basis of our record, it’s sacrilege to the extreme.”
A crushing salvo of black metal majesty replete with hellish riffs, thundering drum cannonades and soaring liturgical choirs reminiscent of classic horror cinema, “I Loved You At Your Darkest” is the group’s most dynamic record yet: extreme and radical on one hand, but also more rock-oriented than any other Behemoth release. Produced by the band themselves, with drum co-production by Daniel Bergstrand (Meshuggah, In Flames), mixing by Matt Hyde (Slayer, Children Of Bodom) mastering by Tom Baker (Nine Inch Nails, Marilyn Manson), and a 17-piece Polish orchestra arranged by Jan Stoklosa, “I Loved You At Your Darkest” can be pre-ordered now at: metalblade.com/behemoth – where the video for the new single, “Wolves Ov Siberia” (directed by Kyle Kadow and Steven Cleavland), can also be viewed.
Nergal comments: “‘Wolves Ov Siberia’ was the first song unveiled from ILYAYD, we began playing it on tour in May of this year – the raw energy and dynamism of the song lent itself perfectly to a live context! The studio version doesn’t lose those fundamentals and now with our added intricacies, you will be able to hear the call to Ancient times…the devil is in the detail, after all.
The video was purposefully very different from the well-recognised, Behemoth aesthetic – I wanted it to be chaotic, frenzied yet beautiful…I think this is mission accomplished and we’re really happy with the final product from Kyle Kadow and Steven Cleavland! Enjoy it!”