Interview with Nergal of Behemoth
4-27-05
by John Haseltine
Polish extreme metal kings have done it again. This time around with the monumental release 'Demigod'. I had a chance to catch up with founder/frontman , Nergal , who are currently finishing up the second leg of their U.S. tour with King Diamond. Nergal talks about the thrills of their basically new found power in the U.S. market. As well as a few other things I was curious about.
JH: First off, give us a brief history of the band.
N: Well I formed the band in ‘91. We’ve seven albums and ‘Demigod’ is our brand new record. There have been several line-up changes you know. There’s just too much details to go into right now and there’s no time. Yes , but . Yes that’s very breif.
JH: Yes it was. That’s cool. So you’ve been on this leg of the tour for a couple of weeks now, how well has it been going?
N: Very good. It’s been very good. It seems like we’re really stepping up. It’s getting better and better. And from being a totally unknown band like in 2003, which was like the first album we came over here for and now it’s like a huge difference. It’s just getting better and better now. It’s great. I’m happy. We’re just working hard trying to build a solid fan base here in the U.S. The record is selling like crazy for us. We’ve already gone over 10,000 copies now in 3 months. Which is great results for such an extreme music.
JH: Glad to hear that. Now back in Jan. & Feb. you were here with Suffocation. Are you noticing a larger turnout for Behemoth this time around? Where as before was much more of an introduction to the band.
N: Yea, yea. I am noticing that. I can see that. On this tour we can see the difference. We can see that something has developed. Even since the Suffocation tour. That tour was more underground tour and audience. And with King Diamond we get to be introduced to a much more mainstream audience.
JH: King Diamond may be a little more well know, but still just as underground as the next.
N: Yes very true. But still I remember this couple from Orlando, or Baltimore. Both we like 45 or something. And they said they were never into this kind of music, but after seeing us live became fans. Than a few days later I got an e-mail from them. This is what I find very refreshing about our band. In the U.S. there are so many people you can reach. And they’re totally, they’ve never heard of the band. And for us, have a 13 years is a long history, is very refreshing. If you know hat I mean.
JH: I suppose I do.
N: You know in Europe, we’re this legendary band. A heavy hitter. And it’s cool to come here and be the newcomer. Nobody really knows you and are like, WOW!!!.
JH: Yea, Satyr (Satyricon), mentioned that in an interview I did with him back in December.
N: Yea, yea. So I think it might actually lengthen the life of the band because we feel a new power coming. It’s cool.
JH: Can you tell us a bit about the new record, ’Demigod’.
N: Well, it’s massive, crushing. It’s pretty much everything that this band is all about. The title speaks for itself. The whole music, the whole concept talks about non-compromise. A non-compromising approach towards life, towards people, towards all surroundings. It’s full of history, full of emotions. It’s pretty much anything all mixed up together. This is Behemoth. What can I say. Get through the lyrics and make up your own mind for yourself. Get inspired. I don’t want to try to explain what all the songs are about, you know. I can give you a few key words. What this record is to me. And just listen to this and tell me if you agree or not. I better like this discussing this way.
JH: How would you say it compares or differs to that of your last release?
N: It’s faster. It’s more intense. More insane, more diverse, more technical. We pretty much put all the elements on this record that we had on our last, only we improved on them. There are some really slow parts like on the song ‘ The Reign Ov Shemsu-Hor’ , the closing song. Which is a mantle epic. It’s just huge, you know. And we had these kind of tracks on the last, but it was just to push every way. To push much further. Which makes this record more, professional?
JH: What was it that first intrigued you into playing such extreme metal?
N: I just came to the point by experience. I started off with the traditional heavy metal, forming my first band when I was 8 or 9. With my friends. We played like regular heavy metal band. Then we got into thrash, death metal. But then I found that black metal was more refreshing thing. So I wanted to form my own band. Behemoth has been extreme since day one. Every record shows that we get more and more extreme. Which is cool I think. There are so many bands out there that soften their sound. I hate that. We keep the band honest. And straight forward. Day by day. Faster and more technical.
JH: Now in the early days Behemoth were primarily a black metal band. Than you seemed to progress more towards a death metal sound.
N: Well it’s all about labeling really don’t like that.
JH: Where does Behemoth fit in? Extreme?
N: You know, when you talk about Slayer, you would never consider them as a thrash metal band. You know what I mean? Even though they are the definition of thrash metal. But nobody considers them as,…Slayer is just Slayer. Nobody even tries to think about where to put Slayer now. You know? They just fuckin’ slay anyone.
JH: Since day one they always have.
N: Yes they have. And that’s what I try to maintain with our band. Just to be a trademark itself. We don’t want to follow this or that path. I like people to say oh yea, there’s Behemoth trademarks, vocals and guitars. I’m not saying I hate originality, I hate that word. I don’t believe in anything like that in music. Seems after The Beatles, nothing was original. They were like the first real rock band. Then it was like getting some more distortion and double bass. And that’s it. But still, it’s all about putting things together in a different configuration. And, it’s what we do. We just try to sound like Behemoth. You can say we sound like death metal and I’d be fine with that. Thrash metal, whatever. Just listen to the song off the new record ,’Conquer All’, it has some pure heavy metal influences in it. But than again, it’s extreme. The vocals are massive. They strike you right here.
JH: Seems just about ten years ago, it was all just heavy metal.
N: Yes. Even the bands who were not heavy metal.
JH: Now with most bands fighting to remain vital in their extreme metal scenes, Behemoth seem to do it very effortlessly. What do you attribute this to?
N: I don’t know.
JH: Was that a trick question?
N: Yea, yea that was tricky. Give me another one. I’m sorry.
JH: That’s okay. What sort of things inspire your lyrical writing?
N: I’ve got this universal answer. It’s life man. A lot of guys are like, yea I read this book. And that’s good and all. But through growing up and maturing, I’m pretty sure that it’s just all about life. Enjoying life. Experiencing life. And transporting this experience through the music. That’s kinda how I see things. That’s what Behemoth is all about. Behemoth is all about my life. And if you ask any of these guys they’ll say yea we tried to bring in a different spirit, our spirit you know, into the songs, but you know that’s what the band is about.
JH: So you’re the primary song writer?
N: Yea. I give the idea of how the songs should sound like.
JH: Into any other side projects?
N: No. I don’t have the fuckin’ time. Behemoth takes up 99% of my time.
JH: I also hear you’re fairly well educated? College degrees, museum curator ship. You ever consider going into one of those lines of work?
N: No, no. that’s too boring. I’ve got to be doing this. I need to be traveling. I love to be on the road. Lack off sleep and shitty food. You can’t beat it. Although House of Blues has the best food yet. Today we were all joking why we came for 20 minute sets. And now I know, for a good dinner! (laughing) The food here is fucking awesome.
JH: Now on a personal level, are your beliefs in Satanism true? Or are they geared towards the genre of music you play? What is you stance on religion?
N: You know, it’s pretty universal. It’s like a 3-dimensional thing. So, I see things on several different levels. It’s not that we’re satanic for the sake of being satanic. Satanism is more like being ,
JH: Are you looking to explain the Anton Szandor LaVey writings? If so I understand those.
N: No. As I said before, I don’t like labeling things or myself. Or categorize a certain genre. I’m sorry for the Christians cause they already did it. Being Satanic is just being on a secular level. Having a discussion with certain kind of people. With my friends and people who are spiritual in connection, we don’t really speak on a Satanic level. We are far above that. We don’t need to do that. Satanism is more or less like a weapon. And it’s very material. It’s so much easier to live the satanic way just so you can deal with the people of the world.
JH: I couldn’t agree with you more.
N: I would say it’s sort of a way of respect to ourselves. Our nature. Our listings.
JH: A lot of people don’t understand the philosophy behind it.
N: Yea I know. That’s what I mean. They misinterpret the words to vandalism or such. People just don’t understand. It’s very individual and it’s a very material thing. So that’s how I see things. Satanism is a weapon. Or a tool to make your life easier for the here and now. That’s just one of the levels I deal with. You know there are probably thousands of levels though. That’s just to put it in short.
JH: What’s up next for Behemoth?
N: After this tour we are flying to Guatemala to do one show. I’m really excited about it. Because I already did a tour in South America and Central America. I found myself very excited about these countries. They don’t get much metal, so it’s cool to go there. Then we are going to open for Iron Maiden in Poland, we’ll do some of the summer festivals. Then in September we’ll be starting another tour in Europe, ah 32 dates or so, with Hate Eternal co-headling, then we’ll take a few days break and we’re flying back to America , 2 weeks lined up in Canada. Then we’re opening up for a huge death metal band,… I can’t remember their name, it’ll be like one month again. Then another tour in Europe. It will end up about 230 shows for this record. And then it’s gonna be it. I don’t like just sitting around waiting for miracles to happen. I’ve got to keep busy. You’ve got to help yourself in life in order to get some more splendor. I don’t like my boys to get bored.
JH: Otherwise they might stray.
N: Oh yea. That’s the way we are.
JH: Well that’s about all I’ve got. Is there anything you’d like to add?
N: Thank you very much for coming to the show. Thanks for the supporting the music and attitude. Thank you. I’m very thankful for that. Let’s keep the metal around. Stay strong.