Originally published in Metal Maniacs magazine May 2003
At the time I conducted this interview, Nergal had told me that Behemoth was negotiating for a tour of America. Well, lo and behold, right as I am ready to submit this article, the tour announcement comes in: Behemoth will share the stage with Deicide and Amon Amarth this spring, starting at the March Metal Meltdown in New Jersey on March 7th. My bets are on Behemoth giving Deicide a truly blasphemous and brutal run for the money. After all, in the live arena was where I first discovered Behemoth. And I knew, from the second I saw them they were something special. It was 1999, and coincidence, they were opening up in Europe for Deicide then, the first on the stage nightly of a killer package which included Aeternus, Rotting Christ and Ancient Rites. At the time they were just an obscure band from Poland, but with a very prophetic name. Spending five days on the road with Behemoth, I got to know the founder/frontman/guitarist and visionary of Behemoth, Nergal. Formed in Poland in 1991, Behemoth is destined to rise through the ranks of the extreme metal scene, mainly because of the fortitude and determination of its leader, Nergal. Injecting a bit of Polish death into its black metal, Behemoth's music exhibits sheer brutality mixed with atmosphere and evil grandeur. Quizzing Nergal about Behemoth's background, I also found out Nergal is intelligent, with a University degree. He studied history, but in his free time he has filled himself with knowledge of all magical and mythical subjects of the past and present, and uses his studies as subjects in his lyrics. Stories about their forefathers' pagan past and Satanism are presented in an intelligent and mature way in Behemoth's lyrics. Nergal hopes that everyone who listens to his music also reads his lyrics because a lot of thought and time go into them. Nergal is proud of Behemoth, and it shows. I once said [in the intro to my 1999 interview with Behemoth] " Behemoth takes the best of Morbid Angel and twists it with the icy coldness of Mayhem. The result is black metal that never becomes predictable." These days, Behemoth are leaning heavily over to the Morbid Angel side of things. Their new Album, Kia Zos Cultus, is a completely intense, death metal affair, but with their unique blackened, atmospheric approach. With this album, Behemoth is poised to be the newest most talked about extreme band. And with this American tour, you bet their name will now be on the lips of extreme metal fans everywhere, being spoken in the same breath as Nile, Hate Eternal and Immolation. Check them out on this upcoming tour, and see for yourself. See a band with such a burning passion for what they do, give the old masters a lesson in sincerity. Yeah, they're that intense.
By AnneMarie Bowman
Metal Maniacs: You just toured with Destroyer 666 and Diabolic in Europe, how did that go?
Nergal: It was really good! When it comes to bands, those bands were really great company on the tour. We had just met Diabolic for the first time and in no time it was like we were best friends for years. It worked out great as far as relations between the members and the crew. The tour itself was as expected, some places are great, some are average and a couple were bad. France, Norway and Portugal were great, London was cool, and Holland was surprisingly awesome! Holland blew us away. It was a great, solid package. We also did a Polish leg of the tour with a couple Polish bands, and then we went to Norway. We played in Trondheim, which is pretty far up north. We were the first non Scandinavian band to play there. It was very exotic for us, almost two days driving in the van, at minus 20 degrees. It was scary in a way. When we left Poland, ok, it was freezing, but there wasn't that much snow!
MM: You guys drove your self all the way to the north of Norway?
Nergal: Yeah well, the promoter couldn't afford the flight tickets. You have to take ferries, and then drive like fifteen hours. The ferry is ten hours itself! It's a hell trip, but it was worth it. When you see the crowd going crazy, and see them enjoying themselves, that's the best you can get. To tell you the truth, after the European tour, and after the Polish leg, we were tired, and just wanted to go home and rest. We had did like 36 shows altogether. But we had a deal, and we had to go to Trondheim. It was the most exhausting traveling in my life, but we did it for the people, the fans.
MM: Well that is really commendable that you would do that.
Nergal: Last year we drove two days just to play two shows for 200 people in Portugal. Still, we do this from time to time. Maybe we are crazy, but it's our lives. Apart from music, there are no daily jobs. Music is our lives. The band is a full time job, and it's all we got. The fans are an essential part of our lives; we have to do it for them. We are here because of them. We are selling more and more records because of them so we have to pay our respects. Sometimes you have to work your ass off to get some satisfaction.
MM: That is a very good attitude to have. You are lucky you can make a living off the band, a lot of bands can?t, and the members still have to have full time jobs to survive, and try to work out their touring during vacations and stuff.
Nergal: Well, it's also because of the Polish economics that we are able to do that. We are not in the European Union and prices are low. Rent is low. We get paid by European prices so we do ok. I wouldn't say we make pretty good money, its ok money. We don't really "make a living," I would describe it as "we manage." It's not easy, it's pretty hard sometimes. We go through difficult periods, and then some money will come in and we'll be ok. Then we'll have two or three months where nothing is coming in. We try to be smart, when we do have money we try to make it last. Put it aside for the future. I always tell the guys, make sure you keep some of this aside, don't buy liters of alcohol, don't go to the bordello, don't buy a new TV set or a new guitar, just keep it aside and see what happens. Try to be smart. I know a lot of bands let others control their business. I do all the management for the band. I book the tours; I deal with the agents, promoters and label people. It's not easy, because I am also to one who writes 99% of the music and half the lyrics. I do all the interviews and public relations. It's almost like my job. Sometimes it is really hard and I'm tired, and I get fed up with the business. But to tell you the truth there is nothing in life I could do aside of music. It is natural for me to take care of all this stuff, and not trust a manager who will rip you off. There is hardly anyone you can trust these days, it's better to keep within the band.
MM: You actually were very fortunate that you have had a pretty good education and attended the University for a while. Are you still going or have you graduated? What are you going to do with your education?
Nergal: I just finished. I went to the University of Gdansk and studied History for six years. I don't know how I did it along with doing the music also. Last year alone we did over a 100 shows. It was pretty difficult, but the school officials were pretty cool about it. I remember bringing them our albums just to prove to them that I was in this band. I had to give them proof I was a musician. They were very tolerant and open minded guys. They were "ok, music is your thing, go do your thing and when you come back, you think about exams."
MM: Have you studied anything which you can apply towards your music?
Nergal: I wouldn't say it was about the knowledge I got from books, it was more that the university gave me knowledge about life. Life wisdom I would call it, it taught me how to deal with people, etc. When you are 18 you know nothing about the world. It enriched me mentally. I was dealing with very clever guys. It opened my mind to many different people. I am very tolerant and have no problem communicating with different people. There were other good things about it also; I took a year of Latin. For sure college made me the person I am.
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Hate Eternal Ancient Rites:
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Interview:
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