Behemoth

I Loved You At Your Darkest

Unholy hosannas from satanic metal’s new kings. Behemoth didn’t get to the top of the extreme metal food chain just by sheer dumb luck. The Polish band’s success is a product of shrewd image building, headline-grabbing provocation and the kind of naked ambition that’s more Gene Simmons than Cronos from Venom.

In fairness, Behemoth have the music to back it up. I Loved You At Your Darkest, their eleventh album, is a wall of noise delivered with cinematic intent. The blackened battery and guttural shrieks summoned by mainman Adam ‘Nergal’ Darski – still the only heavy metal singer to have opened a hairdressing salon and been arrested for ripping up a bible on stage – are punctuated by a 17-piece orchestra, acoustic interludes and even a kids’ choir.

Despite that, there’s no capitulation to crossover potential here – Darski has left the shiny pop chorusues and winking blasphemy to Johnnycome-latelys Ghost. The result is diabolically exhilarating.