Demigod＜Green Vinyl＞

That their albums usually feel like they end too quickly is but one of the superlatives explaining why so few extreme metal bands have been as consistent as Poland's Behemoth over the years (Greece's Rotting Christ and Sweden's Opeth also come to mind). Having laid the groundwork for this consistency with a slew of promising works in the early '90s, Nergal's bloodthirsty trio arguably hit their stride with 2000's Thelema.6, charged inexorably forward with 2002's Zos Kia Cultus, and, in 2004's follow-up, Demigod, they may well have completed what may one day be looked back upon as their defining, unholy trinity of masterful death/black metal. Lending this bold statement weight is the band's readily identifiable style: a brutal assault built on machine-gun playing so technical and precise, yet so instinctively primal, that one's basest and most sophisticated metallic desires are almost always equally sated. What's more, Behemoth's nerve-shattering death metal onslaught -- relentless though it may be -- on highlights such as "Sculpting the Throne ov Seth," "Conquer All," and "XUL" still allows for much more breathing room than nearly impenetrable colleagues like, say, Nile or Suffocation. As well as being the result of outstanding production quality (a deficiency many metal bands try to hide under overpowering intensity), this relative immediacy owes a great deal to Behemoth's songwriting ability (and agility) with handy devices like searing lead guitar runs, counter-point doom-slow riffs, clever use of sampling, and the odd acoustic guitar bit to ease the tension. Some or all of these increment additional favorites like the title track, "The Nephilim Rising" and the unusually epic "The Reign of Shemsu-Hor" -- all of them good as death metal gets, ever! And, as initially championed above, Demigod is always remarkably consistent, and easily adds another dominant chapter to Behemoth's enviable 00s run. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia