Slaves Shall Serve

As everybody knows, Behemoth was a good band when they were a black metal act. Though it seems that wannabe metal teenies haven't yet realized that, as a death metal act, Behemoth is a bad band.

Main thing that ruins Slaves Shall Serve (as every nowadays Behemoth record), is how this album sounds. This sounds very plastic. Nergal's 'death growl' sounds like wind, since it's effected so heavily. Drums are obviously triggered, at least they sound like a drum machine. Guitars have also been mixed to sound like shit. That's anyway quite indifferent, because most of stuff is not too imaginative. Songs are chaotic as hell, full of crappy riffs. Behemoth are trying to reach aggressive and menacing atmosphere, but fail badly: because of plastic sounds this doesn't sound very heavy, even if there's a lot of bass and a lot of distortion. Drummer Inferno is very good drummer, but his drum lines are not so good, just unimaginative blast beats, blast beats and blast beats.

Also the tracks are quite bad, though even if they were good, the producing would still make them sound bad, since the mixing is abysmal. Title track is presented here twice - I have vinyl version of this album, so I don't have the music video, which is idiotic anyway. At least the LP release also also presents comical live pictures of band, which look like a bad joke, thanks to 'medieval' clothing of the band... Though it's mediocre track, it's still the best one on this album. It has also very funny lyrics, however I think they weren't met to be funny.

Also the Nefilim cover "Penetration" is alright, though it's not good because of Behemoth, but because it's quite well composed track... Another songs are bad, excluding Danzig cover "Until You Call on the Dark", which I hated as Danzig song, and I hate as Behemoth song. It's beyond bad.

To be honest, I hate the whole EP. If I had a bunch of slaves that would fucking serve, I'd probably like to order them to destroy all copies of this EP.

Released one year after Demigod, Slaves Shall Serve is a limited (5000 made) EP made around Demigod. The EP features seven tracks, including the uncensored video for Slaves Shall Serve.

Slaves Shall Serve is the opening track and is exactly the same as on Demigod. The same great song, beginning with 8 seconds of some of Nergal’s most brutal death vocals ever and then kicking it off with Nergal and Seth’s amazing guitar work. As usual, Inferno proves to the world that he is one of the world’s most talented drummers. Entering The Pylon Ov Light is exclusive to this EP, and the only song made entirely by Behemoth that is not present on Demigod. It’s one of the better songs out of the ones they made for this EP and Demigod. Not as brutal as the opening track but still in Behemoth’s usual range.

The next part of this EP consists of two covers. Penetration, is a Nefilim cover which is beautifully (it would be more appropriate to say brutally) done by Behemoth. I haven’t heard the original version but however it sounds, Behemoth made it into the best song available on this EP. The drum work is one of Infernus’ finest moments and the main riff is one of the most brutally addictive ones in Death Metal. Until You Call On The Dark is a cover of Danzig. I haven’t heard the original of this one either but it’s far from being as amazing as Penetration. It’s far too slow compared to the rest of the EP and actually features clean vocals…which I usually like with most bands but Nergal doesn’t seem capable to do them correctly. Maybe it’s simply my brain refusing to accept anything other then death growls coming from a Behemoth release.

The next two are live tracks. Demigod is the live version of Demigod’s title track, played at the 2005 Sweden rock festival. Behemoth is one of the best live bands I know, and this track and the next one prove it. Unlike some other bands’ live recordings which just sound like shit compared to the studio versions, this one conveys all the brutality and energy of Demigod’s title track. The next track is another track played live at the 2005 Sweden rock festival, and it’s none other than Slaves Shall Serve. The opening death growls aren’t as strong as on the album version but the rest is excellent. However, even though this EP is titled Slaves Shall Serve I think 3 versions of the same song out of 7 tracks is a little too much.

And finally we have Slaves Shall Serve’s music video. It consists of Behemoth playing in a dark atmosphere with everything shaking, as is the case for most extreme metal video clips and it also includes a bishop who seems quite unhappy and some ladies in corsets.

Slaves Shall Serve is one of Behemoth’s best new releases and I really consider it an important part of their current Death Metal evolution. Definitely essential for any fans of their new sound. It loses 8% for the more average "Until You Call On The Dark" and especially the misplaced clean vocals on it.

Behemoth – Slaves Shall Serve

A follow-up to the tremendous Demigod, this EP serves as sort of an epilogue. It is a must for any Behemoth addict, which would be me. This album is an even split between studio tracks, covers, and live tracks.

From the studio we have ‘Slaves Shall Serve’ of course, and also the previously unreleased ‘Enter the Pylon of Light.’ Both are powerful, brutal tracks featuring machine-gun double kicks and blast beats from everybody’s favorite, Inferno. I really can’t say enough good things about ‘Slaves’. It started life as a standout track on Demigod, and is the centerpiece of this little EP as well. Can the first track be a centerpiece? Whatever.

Next up we have a couple of covers. ‘Penetration’ is from a British sort of Industro-Goth Metal act called “The Nefilim”. See, this is what covers are good for. I might never have given The Nefilim a second glance if not for this. They have a techno-organic kind of sound, like early Ministry. It has a relentlessly driving metal beat, but is too short.

The other cover is ‘Until You Call on the Dark’ by Danzig. I’ve never been a big Danzig fan, and after hearing this, I’m still not. I’m sorry, but Danzig tunes all sound a little half-baked to me, and clean, or even clean-ish, vocals on a Behemoth track just isn’t right.

Fortunately this is over soon enough and we get to the two live tracks. Inferno RAGES on Demigod live, like a drum machine possessed. Unlike some Black/Death bands, Behemoth does not rush through songs just because they’re fast. To me, this says that they are not simply playing as fast as possible, they are playing at a deliberate tempo, which just happens to be very fast. I believe this is every bit due to Inferno’s mastery behind the drumkit.

'Slaves Shall Serve' live again stuns me with the quality of live Behemoth, considering the complexity of some of their tracks. Good way to round out the EP. I ended up giving it only 80% because of that Danzig track, but that’s just personal taste. Still a must for Behemoth fans.

I've never taken the initiative to listen to Behemoth before because I've always thought that if a band didn't care enough to come up with a creative title, then they probably don't care enough to make good music either. But I was wrong! I found this CD yesterday and figured that since it was so cheap I might as well at least give it a preview, and I'm glad I did. The brutality far exceded my expectations for a band with such a generic name.

The guitar riffs are bad ass, and the tone is unbelievable. Even the solos were decent, although a bit too short and random for my tastes. The drums were heavier than what I'm used to and the double bass kicks were unbelievably fast in some parts. I didn't think the vocals were as good as they could have been, but they weren't so bad as to ruin the music, either. I guess they were more-or-less average for death metal.

I think the highlight of the album is Penetration (track three), although the title track is also pretty good. My least favorite is Until You Call On The Dark (track four), because the main riff in the song sounds like something by Smashing Pumpkins, only with a better guitar tone and less annoying vocals.

The Slaves Shall Serve video didn't really do anything for me. I generally don't like metal music videos anyway, because they tend to be random and confusing, and not have very much to do with the song. This video was no different, but at least they had some hot bitches in corsettes to make up for it. I guess they were supposed to be representative of sex slaves, or something.

Overall, I have no idea how well this album compares to anything else by the same band, but it's not bad by itself. At the very least, I think it's worth the $8.99 that I payed for it.

It became a tradition for Behemoth, as it is now for Vader, to release various EPs/Mini CDs in time between usual longplays. Started with Antichristian Phenomenon, then Conjuration and now Slaves Shall Serve (puprosely omitted Live in Touluse which was released to fill up the contract with Metal Mind) - all of those have the same history and more or less the same purpose.

Studio tracks were recorded during Demigod session (as were the tracks for AP and C). The title track appeared on it and even promoted the album with a clip which you can find on this EP. To be honest I don’t like the videos of Behemoth, but this one gained my attention (Nergal as a bishop!) and they are getting better and better in this issue as well. The second track is more of a forfeit for diehards, good but not good enough comparing to Demigod tracks. The Nephilim and Danzig cover are filled with Behemoth spirit and that is all to be said bout those two. Good to hear again that they like to play tracks which are completely different from their own style.

And finally live tracks! Everybody who visited their gig knows that they are great on stage and those two tracks confirm it. I am just suprised that Nergal doesn’t want to give great full live cd, Requiem was great but I still wait for the disc.

All in all short review for a short release. It might be difficult to get, but for this price I think it’s worth it.