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Behemoth > Bewitching the Pomerania > Reviews
Behemoth - Bewitching the Pomerania

Behemoth when they were still young - 71%

Felix 1666, October 17th, 2020
Written based on this version: 1997, CD, Solistitium Records

The older ones among us remember that there was a time when Behemoth created really intensive, exciting and uncompromising music. “Bewitching the Pomerania” is a document of this time. Chronologically, it built the bridge from “Grom” to “Pandemonic Incantations”, but both the new song (the opener) and the re-recorded versions of two previously released tracks rather tend to “Grom” than to its successor. It is still more or less pure black metal which is offered. “With Spell of Inferno (Mefisto)” stands in the centre of the release, even though the other tracks are pretty solid in view of their wicked guitars, their well-integrated breaks and their nebulous atmosphere. The only exclusive piece does not reach the level of the outstanding jewels of “Grom”, but it still sounds stable, robust and thunderous. Slightly erratic keyboards emphasize the atmosphere which is created by the powerful and coherent guitars, while Nergal’s vocals deliver the final demonic touch. This is definitely no lukewarm leftover, but a song that meets on an equal footing with the majority of the regular album tracks.

“Hidden in the Fog” could be a bit stormier, but its heroic fanfares give the song a special feature. Maybe some percent of power get lost due to the somewhat blurred production. Don’t expect a feast of transparency, but black metal has never been the style where clarity and cleanness play an important role. Given this situation, the swampy appearance of the production also has an impact on “Sventevieth”, a more aggressive track, but it’s aggression is also a bit gone with the Baltic winds. It therefore remains an open question whether or not it was really necessary to re-record these two pieces. Be that as it may; those who want to make their Behemoth collection complete cannot do much wrong with this EP, but everything would have been easier with the integration of “With Spell of Inferno” on “Grom”. However, guess it was just born too late.

Turning point - 80%

DaBuddha, August 17th, 2010

This EP release was definitely a turning point in the career of Poland's favorite (or cursed) sons Behemoth. The previous album, Grom, showed a band that was maturing, but one that was still in line with previous works: raw black metal, yet better produced. On this release we can hear that Behemoth have begun making the change to their blackened death metal sound of the late 90's. There's only a few things that remain from their black metal work here, the image and main man Nergal. They're still the corpsepainted warriors of Satan, but their music has been elevated to more extreme channels. You'll notice this when the first song kicks in. With Spell of Inferno (Mefisto), the only new song present, is a raw, blast beat fest of a song, somewhat removed from previous works. Behemoth always used blast beats to enhance the more chaotic songs of their past, but this time they are used with no abandon, and are also much faster than before. You'll also notice that the drums are somewhat buried in the mix. Cymbals are prevalent, but bass and snare (somewhat) are farther down. It's somewhat muddy, but definitely less raw than even Grom. New drummer Inferno can probably be somewhat credited for their shift in musical styles. He's a monster behind the drums, even in this earlier release, and his style of hyper fast drumming brings the songs to far more extreme levels than previous skinsman Baal Ravenlock ever did. Overall this song is a vision of what the new Behemoth would become: basically no sign of folk influenced, atmospheric BM whatsoever, and in turn, a satanic hymn of chaos. I like it to tell the truth. It's catchy, fast, raw, and "evil". Nergals vocals are much deeper here than before. Not quite a growl yet, but also not his raspy wail from before.

The other two songs are re-recorded versions of two old songs. Hidden in the Fog retains the folky feel of before, but this time the vocals are deeper and the drumming tighter. To tell the truth, I didn't care all that much for the Sventevith album which this was originally on, and I find this version of the song to be better. Nothing has really changed musically, but with a better and more distinctive sound, this song is brought new life. The other re-recorded song is Sventevith (Storming Near the Baltic). This is another blast fest, but I find that the atmosphere has been retained from the original version. I don't have much to say about this song, just that it sounds good. It's nothing spectacular by any means, but it serves it's purpose.

This EP was the precursor to the next full length, Pandemoniac Incantations. The sound on here is similar to that album, and the style is indicative of that album as well. It's the last Behemoth album I truly enjoyed from start to finish, but that is neither here nor there. This release is hard to find, and due to availability issues, never saw a proper distribution, so I'd recommend buying the re-issue of "And the Forest's Dream Eternally" since this was tacked onto that album (an EP itself). This is not mandatory, but it's not rubbish either. If nothing else, it shows what this band used to be, but also what they would become.

Such A Bad Cov- SUCH A FUCKING BAD COVER! - 73%

OzzyApu, May 28th, 2009

Grom introduced the primitive characteristics that Behemoth would begin to build on as they turned blackened death metal and, eventually, straightforward death metal. With this release, these traits are more refined and you can clearly see that change in on its way. The production makes everything out to be black metal, albeit heavily thrash / death influenced.

Drums off the bat sound like shit – literally hearing the first seconds of the first track lets you know that those drums don’t sound good. Snare has that annoying metallic echo, as do the toms and cymbals. Double bass is overly drowned under the mix of things, which is pathetic since when does anybody NOT want to hear double bass? Here we also see how much blast beats would become a signature tool for the band – it’s used constantly. This is also the first release with Inferno if I’m correct, so that already tells you that all the songs are fast-paced, more violent than before, and relentless.

Riffs are much of the same melodic tremolo / mid-paced picking, but what we don’t hear is the inert pagan / mystic / occult feeling. It sometimes is there like in the second track, but that’s because the acoustic / folk influence is obvious. We’re beginning to lose the atmosphere that helped shape Behemoth’s sound since the beginning. Synths are still around, but don’t have the chilling effect like before thanks to the more death-like distortion of the guitars. Bass happily is much, much more present and grumpy than ever before. You could hear it separately before, but now it actually is part of the music and even has it’s own moments.

To think Nergal started out doing death growls was quite a surprise, but after so many years I notice that he’s going back to them. It’s been said that Inferno no doubt had an impact on the music, and ultimately the core of Behemoth really was thrash metal. Gone are the tormented shrieks – make way for raspy growls! Yeah, raspy screams have no become raspy growls, or else they wouldn’t fit well with the music at all. The vocals reminded me specifically of Satyr’s of Satyricon on Nemesis Divina - sure those are raspy screams, but they’re also a sort of raspy growl. It works both ways, but I find Nergal pulling off a growl more than a scream with this one.

Aside from that eyesore of a cover, this EP isn’t that bad. It’s an interesting transition look that we’ll get to hear more of on the next album. This period marks a maturity of Behemoth that most people don’t care to look into much, considering how many love the later albums while others yearn to keep the black metal sound alive.

Essential Behemoth release. - 90%

fire_FBS, August 14th, 2005

Although consisting only of 3 songs, Bewitching The Pomerania is a pure essence of earlier Behemoth style. Definitely it’s their best effort to date, very consistent, and - in my opinion - best in whole career. Not that Satanica or Zos Kia Cultus are poor albums, but they are lacking the atmosphere which can be found on the older releases, especially this one.

EP kicks off with “With Spell Of Inferno”. First we hear a short drum intro, then Nergal’s scream comes in – just awesome, he never sounded that good. Song starts very fast, then comes some tempo changes. Keyboard are accompanying Nergal for the moment, next we can hear some trash-like riffs. Song ends up in the way it started – fast-paced, raw black metal. Fantastic one. 9/10.

“Hidden in a fog”. This is a remake of older Behemoth song, rather slow-paced. Very atmospheric one, with some acoustic work. Compared to the version from 1995, it sounds much better here, however - black-metallic rawness is still maintained. Nice, but not as good as for example “Grom”. 8/10.

“Sventevith (storming near the Baltic)”. Again a remake (song first appeared on “And the Forests Dream Eternally” as I remember), but this time they turned a rather typical song into a monster. Ultra-fast tempo and great opening riff just won’t allow you to stop headbanging. Great bass work, great drums. Absolute Behemoth classic. 10/10.

Oh, I nearly forgot – this EP is the first material with Inferno on drums. This guy was totally incomparable to earlier Behemoth drummers even then, and – what may sound impossible – he improved a lot from this time, becoming one of best drummers on the extreme metal scene in my opinion.

Suming up – looks like a definite must-have for black metal fan, but sadly this EP is very hard to find. If you aren’t a collector I’d rather recommend you to buy “Chaotica” compilation, which includes this EP and earlier Behemoth work.

//This is my first review, sorry if I did something wrong.