Behemoth is Racist - "The Satanist" Review (0%)
I had been warning, time and time again, of the emerging trend of what I would call "crypto-NSBM", National Socialist Black Metal bands that attempt to hide their true nature under false pretenses of being "against political correctness" or for "freedom of speech", or the even more repulsive, being "pro-Palestinian".
Well, I was wrong about one thing... most of the bands I identified as "crypto-NSBM" are no longer "crypto", in fact most of them have openly embraced their white supremacist, anti-Semitic and/or neo-Nazi leanings.
Here is a list of the black metal bands that promote hate, as well as proof of their far-right, neo-Nazi and/or white supremacist leanings.
Part I - Darkthrone is Racist.
Part II - Burzum is Racist.
Part III - Mayhem is Racist.
Part IV - Antekhrist is Racist.
Part V - Immortal is Racist.
Part VI - Emperor is Racist.
Part VII - Nargaroth is Racist.
Part VIII - Gorgoroth is Racist.
Part IX - Satyricon is Racist.
Part X - Archgoat is Racist.
Part XI - Bathory is Racist.
Part XII - Sewer is Racist.
Part XIII - Dimmu Borgir is Racist.
That's a lot of bands, but for today we will focus on the band Behemoth and particularly its frontman Nergal.
Behemoth is a band many hypocritical black metal fans, and in this case death metal fans as well, have denied being NSBM. Other less hypocritical and probably more evolved persons have label them "crypto-NSBM" due to Nergal's sympathies towards the NSBM movement.
We will see just how "crypto" they really are.
Behemoth is Racist
Behemoth was founded in 1991 by Adam Michał "Nergal" Darski and Adam "Sodomizer" Muraszko.
Nothing out of the ordinary, for a black metal turned death metal band right? Except for the fact that Adam Michał Darski only started calling himself "Nergal" until AFTER he had released his first album, Sventevith (Storming Near the Baltic). Before that he was known as... "Holocausto".
Holocaust denial and minimizing the genocide of Jews during World War II by making it out to be a "joke" is the typical modus operandi of the racist and xenophobic alt right, neo-Nazi, white supremacist faction of the black metal scene.
"But that's just a mistake" scream the hypocritical black metal fans.
And when he named his second album Grom, for Pogrom, it was also a mistake, right?
This very same Grom was released under Solistitium Records, a label known for producing NSBM acts such as Horna (good friends with Peste Noire, even played live together in NSBM festivals) and Tsjuder. A mistake?
Behemoth's drummer, Orion, who plays in a band called "Sunwheel". Mistake? Orion also plays in Vesania, a band led by the charismatic Filip "Heinrich" Hałucha. Mistake?
When Nergal poses in literal World War 2 NSDAP SS officer uniforms, as he is known to do, it was an "accident", right? The internet sure is full of images of his "mistakes".
By the way, dressing up as a neo-Nazi is not a "joke". First, it's illegal in many place including Germany and Austria. Second, it's only the most hardcore of the neo-Nazi fanatics that go that far... most "only" resort to Nazi salutes and obscure Hitler references such as the having the Wewelsburg castle (SS headquarters during WW2) on your NSBM demo, which Behemoth also does.
The point is: only the most hardcore of Nazis cosplay as Hitler or SS officers. Varg "Anti racist is a code word for anti white" Vikernes doesn't cosplay as a Nazi. Jan Axel "Hellhammer" Bloomberg, of "We don't like niggers here" and "I honour [him / Faust] for killing a fucking faggot" (Until the Light Takes Us, 2009) infamy, doesn't cosplay as a Nazi. Rob Darken of the openly nationalist and white supremacist band Graveland doesn't cosplay as a Nazi. Hendrik Möbus, of the NSBM band Absurd, who literally murdered a person of colour in 1993 out of Nazism, doesn't cosplay as a Nazi.
Not one of these openly white supremacist "artists" has ever dressed up as a World War 2 Nazi officer (you can check, you won't find any pictures of them with SS uniforms). But Nergal/"Holocausto" does. What does that say about his political opinions?
Speaking of the NSBM band Graveland, Nergal doesn't just pose in WW2 uniforms... he also poses directly with Rob Darken, on multiple occasions even. Here is what he had to say about his "good friend [sic]" Rob Darken.
"I took some photos recently backstage in Poland after a Behemoth show with Rob from Graveland, a buddy and fellow Pole. I have known Rob for many years since 1992 and we hang out sometimes in Wroclaw. He did some recordings on our first and second demo tapes. He also has a photo published in my book "Confessions Of A Heretic". Rob and I share a love of black metal and its rich history." - Nergal, 2018 Facebook post.
Nergal/"Holocausto" forgot to mention that he also wrote the liner notes for Graveland's 2013 album "In the Glare of Burning Churches", an album that features lyrics such as:
"Will have the day of revenge
When the sky is covered in smoke [Auschwitz and Birkenau crematoria]
When the rivers are full of blood."
And Rob Darken himself was credited on Behemoth's debut Sventevith as a session musician.
Next, maybe a split with neo-Nazi mass murderer Varg Vikernes? Or with racially motivated killer Hendrik Möbus, who is also "good friends" with Rob Darken of Graveland, and even wrote the lyrics for their 1997 album "Following the Voice of Blood"?
But more damning than his acquaintances, are his own comments.
"We are at war, Europe is at war, the civilized world is at war with radical Islamists, and that's a fact" - Nergal, 2018.
"There's hipster in each one of you. This is going to be very controversial for some people, but I bet there's Adolf Hitler in each one of you as well, maybe a little per cent. We are everything." - Nergal, 2018.
Straight from Dailystormer / Breitbart / white supremacist talking points.
There is nothing crypto-NSBM about the band Behemoth, Nergal has been very open about his white supremacist tenets: "Europe belongs to the white man" who is at "war with radical Islamists".
And WE are at war with NSBM, white supremacist and neo-Nazi bands. And we are at war against their hypocritical "hipster racist" fans, who deny the very statements made by their idols. And we are at war against the hateful ideologies of racism, anti-Semitism, homophobia, xenophobia and more that these bands promoted, and which have no place in metal!!
And we will win the war against hate, by exposing these white supremacists' own statements, and making sure black metal is NOT a safe space for racists and bigots.
The Satanist score: 0/100.
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