Ελληνικά
Last Updated on 06:38 PM by Giorgos Tsekas
Genre: Black Metal
Country: Finland
Label: Debemur Morti Productions
Year: 2016
Being a huge fan of Behexen, the signing author has attentively watched the band’s career so far (for almost a decade that is). Behexen is a band that’s active since 1996, and just recently they released their fifth full length effort, entitled “The Poisonous Path”, which came out of the blue in the field, especially to those who remember the band from the “Rituale Satanum” and “By the Blessing of Satan “ era.
Even though with the 2008’s (indifferent for me) “My Soul for His Glory”, which was (in a way) a transitional stage for the band, and later on, with 2012’s “Nightside Emanations” the band showed that it’s moving towards different than the ordinary Finnish musical paths (see. Sargeist, Horna, Satanic Warmaster) – darker and filthier. Behexen’s latest effort has come to justify exactly that. We are talking about a solid record, with Hoath Torog and his friends offering us a record which indicates the compositional and lyrical maturity that Behexen have nowadays. The differences compared with the previous album are apparent from the very first seconds and since there are the classic switches between fast and mid-tempo, “The Poisonous Path” is much more violent than we are used to, as it spits unappeased hatred in the face of the listener. Forget about the classic Behexen-ish melodic parts, at least as the basis of their music, since most of them have become complementary. Of course this does not mean that they are there just to exist, as they are perhaps the most sickening riffs they’ve ever written. The ideas are very good and the record’s structure is intact, while huge differences are observed on vocals, because they’ ve become “sharp” and with more volume and depth in relation to the recent (and not only) past. The production is as “polished” as it should be, without losing its black metal feeling, while the artwork of Kristiina Lehto is plain, simple and without unnecessary details.
In short, “The Poisonous Path” is a jewel of 2016 that, unless something shocking happens, will be in the top ten black metal albums of the year.
5/6
