Behemoth - And the Forests Dream Eternally
Review: After a lengthy instroduction this EP opens into modernized versions of the slow and simple tunes of Behemoth's first album. There are four tunes here of which one is a Bathory "tribute" soundalike, leaving two solid fast black metal songs and one more epic tune where Nergal, the egomaniacal force behind this band, informs us that he played all of the instruments and not just guitar.
Of these remaining black metal songs, they are fast and simple in the style of Immortal's first album, using riffs that develop across languid song structures that preserve an emotional state for dissection in the simple bends of a few riffs. Nothing super complex but it works.
Integration of other instruments and use of layered song structures reveals where Behemoth is powerful, where some of these riffs that age toward the archaic reveal where they (he - Nergal) are not. Nonetheless this is expressive and architected music.