Though Behemoth’s brand of extreme metal has always been a destructive, power driven, technical frenzy, Demi-god simply takes the aforementioned definition and traits and injects each track with liter upon liter of satanic nitro. Like most extreme metal discs I listen to for the first time, I thought that Demi-god was just too much for my brain to handle – a relentless barrage of supersonic drumming and a voice that sounds like it is truly being hollered from a beast. Two spins and a sore neck later, not only was I in utter awe of Inferno’s drumming, but I felt undying urging to karate kick anything close to me. Simply said this album is brutal enough to be held as the official anthem of destruction.

Through the years Behemoth has mildly experimented with different sounds on each release. Pandemonic Incantations sounded quite black with a raw and pounding delivery, Satanica was very technical (even progressive at time) with an even heavier black sound, Thelema 6 had more plodding tempo, and Zos Kia Cvltvs was close to what Demi-god sounds like but a notch slower and less solid. Synthesize the older albums together with fantastic production and 100 pills of speed, and voila – Behemoth’s newest addition to an extreme discography: Demi-god.

The album begins flaming with Sculpting the Throne of Seth, which kicks off with a short acoustic interlude that serves as an intro to Inferno’s blisteringly fast double pedals. As soon as the double pedals culminate the song simply explodes into a plethora of riffs that are all over the guitar neck and beats so fast and technical that you’ll question whether inferno is human. Although the album is mostly dominated by crazy-fast songs there are also some good ol’ mid-tempo ones that allow the chance for the guitars to show off their skill and give your neck a break. Tracks like the Rising Nefilim and The Reign of Shesmu-Hor have tempos which are more plodding and serenade the ears with fantastic solos and occasional string interludes.

The only aspects on the album I believe people may have a little beef with are the vocals. I personally, though it took a bit of time to digest, enjoy the highly aggressive bellows. It wouldn’t surprise me if they digitally tampered with them a little as they sound much lower and guttural compared to their past albums. The only way to see if the vocals deserve merit is if they’re able to reproduce the same sound live – I don’t enjoy it when bands “digitally create” talent, so we’ll just wait and see.

The true highlight of the album, in my opinion, has to be Towards Babylon. If you thought the drumming for some reason wasn’t impressive on the preceding 5 tracks then this track will undoubtedly will make you change you mind. To get an idea of the tempo of this song go rent the movie Predatdor (featuring the almighty Arnold) and fast forward to the part when Arnold’s unit relentlessly fires enough bullets in about 1 minute to clear half the forest he’s shooting into – then you’ll get an idea of how fast it is. Rampant solos compliment the super-speed and the vocals give that extra touch necessary to give anyone that “I want to karate kick someone in the face” feeling.

Though this release may not appeal to people who aren’t fans of extreme metal right off the bat, I’m fairly convinced that after a few spins most of you will feel the need to thrash to this release. The musicianship is solid like a rock and really unbelievable, the aggression is right off the scale and sound quality is superb. It would be very hard to find another band whose name fits their music as perfectly as Behemoth’s does. This is their best album yet!