Following in the footsteps of pre-pandemic albums The Satanist and I loved You At Your Darkest, Behemoth continue to redefine what it means to be an extreme black metal band. Fittingly, Opvs Contra Natvram – meaning to go against the current – continues to push boundaries and insight unrest against the status quo all whilst acting in part as the soundtrack to our own impending armageddon.
To begin the audio assault, ‘Post God Nirvana’ provides eerie strings, pounding war drums and neo-folk chants amid buzzing guitars and Behemoth’s mastermind, Nergal’s unmistakable howls. “We worship the devil, we hail the beast.” he screams – as if we didn’t know already. What follows is the instantaneous plunge into chaos and brutality. ‘Malaria Vulgata’ and ‘Thy Becoming Eternal’ are masterclasses in how full blown aggression can still emanate elements of beauty and grandeur. The latter more so with its enormous ending, one of the most stand-out moments on the album.
Whilst much of the album moves between sheer ferocity and plodding, head-nodding or galloping rhythms, one thing is apparent and that’s the level of musicianship on this record, the drums in particular, taking charge on numerous occasions. ‘Disinheritance’ and ‘Once Upon A Pale Horse’ being prime examples.
As Behemoth move through stages of their 30 plus year career, the experimentation with vocals has been fascinating to watch unfold. ‘The Deathless Sun’ was the third single to be taken from the album, provides huge, cleanly chanted vocal lines with what sounds like a full choir backing Nergal’s venomous delivery that are sure to go down a storm in a live setting. ‘Neo Spartacus’ brings in the use of some almost electronic or altered vocal lines (think Shagrath’s vocals on Dimmu Borgir’s ‘Puritania’) though also provides instances where the album is allowed to breathe, where the snarling momentarily fades away. Until the song’s closing seconds that is where the assault continues once again as Nergal screams “I am Spartacus, and so are you!” in an effort to “spark that flame of rebellion” as he puts it.
Though Opvs Contra Natvram rarely lets its guard down or offers anything other than remarkable, album closer ‘Versus Christus’ is surely its finest juncture. This seven-minute, jaw-dropping epic brims with dark moody atmospheres that roar into fierce riffing, interspersed with massive layers of choral vocals all of which dripping in biblical iconography.
Opvs Contra Natvram, Behemoth’s twelfth studio album may pale ever so slightly in comparison to previous opuses but it also further cements their unparalleled status as one of the most intense and exciting extreme metal bands to date. Despite the band now soaring to unfathomable heights, they remain giants of the underground and this record is the perfect addition to an unholy trinity with I Loved You At Your Darkest being the dark brooding O’Father, The Satanist, powerful and blasphemous O’Satan and Opvs Contra Natvram, the score to a day of reckoning, O’Sun.