I promised them a couple of weeks ago. The releases have finally had time to settle into my brain and now it's time to give my verdict on two of the most anticipated releases in the death metal world! Next week, I'll be taking a look at Nile's “Ithyphallic” but this week belongs to:

Behemoth
The Apostasy

In 2005, Behemoth's “Demigod” blew my mind. I knew who the band was, but because of so much other stuff on my “must listen” priority list, I never fit them in. I'm glad that I picked up “Demigod” two years ago (thanks to its $13 price tag and cool artwork) because I waited with way more anticipation for “The Apostasy” to come out in the summer (and fetched most of their back catalogue in the meantime). After spending time with the band's past releases, I have to say that as part of the Behemoth library, “The Apostasy,” is probably their coolest piece of work yet and a significant addition to the heavy/death metal genre.

The first thing that stands out on “The Apostasy” for me is that the vocals aren't as produced and overdubbed than on “Demigod.” The stripped back approach made continuous listens a pleasure.

The drumming by Inferno is one of the best (besides the drumming in next week's review) I've heard this year in the world of death metal. It makes one wonder how these men have the endurance to keep belting drums at the pace they do for so long.

Overall, the production of the songs, the structure of the songs and the diversity and uniqueness of each track gives the listener something distinguishable yet it works as an album. The other nice thing that adds to the diversity of this CD is the integration of choirs, acoustic guitars and other instruments that you wouldn't find in other metal releases such as the French horn.

“The Apostasy” won't win any non-death metal fans, but this seems to be one of Behemoth's most intense, yet accessible efforts. Nergal and the boys seem to have another winner and I'm sure that this will be in most metal critic's top five at the end of the year.