Behemoth is an influential Polish blackened death metalband. They are considered to have played one of the most important roles in establishing the Polish extreme metal underground, alongside Gravelandand Sacrilegium. Until the early 2000's, the band played rather classical black metalwith heathen lyrical content, but soon changed to occult and thelemic themes written by their lead vocalist (Nergal) and the occultist and poet Krzysztof Azarewicz. This coincided with an increase in musical craftsmanship that allowed them to move beyond the black metal underground and garnered them some international recognition. With the 2004 release of Demigod, they had fully embraced brutal technical death metal while retaining their own signature style characterized by the staggering drumwork of Inferno, multi-layered vocals and Nile-style middle-eastern influence.
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