SATANICA is the fourth BEHEMOTH album which is already recorded and mixed. Italian AVANTGARDE MUSIC announces this piece of art for the end of July. The premiere will be strengthen by a massive promotional campaign, several reviews, interviews, advertisement in all the major metal press all over the world. This album seems to be a milestone for the band's musical progression as well as the greatest highlight release for AVANTGARDE, since their mighty "Live in Leipzig" by the true MAYHEM...So far, check out NERGAL's comments about SATANICA and all the details concerning this blasting release...

About new deal, hell of work and bad experiences...

"Well, it's been hell of work, believe me. I've been entangled in vortex of intense work for last one and the half year. After finishing the European tour with ANCIENT and BELPHEGOR we entered our rehearsal room and started composing new songs. We were both determined and had a lot of motivation... First of all I was aware of the fact that our last album, "PANDEMONIC INCANTATIONS" was something hard to be beaten up. Highly developed music, splendidly structured arrangements, complex but yet very catchy stuff was included on this piece and we had to work hard to prove that we were able to do one step forward. Moreover, I signed a two album deal with AVANTGARDE MUSIC which showed the biggest interest in the band and seemed to be the most reliable and trustful label we've been in touch so far.

You know, having really bad experiences with our previous "company" Solistitium rec. from Germany, which at last didn't pay us for the last album at all, didn't do much to promote  our album etc., we felt like loosing something, talent, time,  whatever...it was very stressful period for us. Finally, after half a year of negotiating a deal I signed it with the Italian label and believe me, they pushed things further really.

Firstly, they re-released "PANDEMONIC INCANTATIONS" in pic. disc format, later on they put us on the bill of DEICIDE tour which was a terrific experience, with no doubts. In fact we had booked the studio for February '99, but due to the tour dates we had to change the date for April'99..."

About conquering Europe along with DEICIDE and more...

"Huh, it blew me away! It was like the best thing that could happen to BEHEMOTH after all those years of dealing with crapy labels, shitty promoters etc. Finally I got a chance to show people how much my band is worth. I believe that we managed playing live to bring all those lost values, you know. Four piece BLACK METAL killing machine supporting such a great band like DEICIDE. It was kind of dream for me, man...And the greatest gift we could ever get was the response of the people.

You see, the problem is that we already tried to conquer Europe three times before, but due to incompetence to promoters, there were not enough people each time, tours were extremely bad organised...we didn't get what we deserved, really. This time it was 100% professional tour, with a real road crew, with great promotional campaign, great frequency, almost 20 shows blasting through the old continent...Yeah, you all should have been there. Five bands playing each night, and each of them presenting different sort of sound but the whole package worked out perfectly. We really got along with all the bands, AETERNUS, ANCIENT RITES, ROTTING CHRIST and DEICIDE. I deeply believe we all brought something special and delivered it to people...that was our aim and we achieved for sure. With this tour we built a proper foundation for a promotion of our upcoming album, SATANICA.

We pressed some hundreds T-shirts with new album motive etc. During some shows we played a new song and looking from the response, people seemed to enjoy this quite much..."

About the studio session, new ways and splendid musical concept...

"STARCRAFT STIMULATIONS" is an old studio, very good and professional but still undiscovered. Anyway, after "PANDEMONIC INCANTATIONS" we knew it's a necessary move to change the studio and to reach more powerful and intense sound. Successfully we found such a sound in SS studios and we are proud of this new sound as hell! Not trying to be honest I have to admit that finally there's a band which proved that apart from ABYSS and WOODHOUSE there's some alternative place to record a METAL album which sounds at least as good as albums from those studios.

If you still can't believe it just face the truth by listening to new BEHEMOTH's recording!!! It's just so powerful and spontaneous...This time we spent some more money for the recording but we could sit there for more than three weeks and release 99% of our ideas. This studio has a great equipment, it's 60 tracks studio, both audio and digital. We also crammed it with hell of our stuff just to try as many possibilities we could. For the first time we used D-DRUMs, by the way exactly the same model like Pete Sandoval used on "Formulas.." LP. This sounds just perfect, each drum hit is audible, whatever INFERNO plays...it's simple incredible.

You know, we've always had that kind of problems with the acoustic drums...there have been such parts on our previous albums that you couldn't hear snare clearly, or the cymbals were too loud etc. This time drums are just outstanding, definitely the best sound we could reach. The same goes to guitars...I remember using Marshall amps all my life but this time we found out that straight sound from MESA BOOGIE amps is something this band needed to refresh our sound. And if you listen to new songs you'll easily find out that it's so tough and asskicking. It also sounds much more professional so...That's definitely the way we're gonna follow in the future, 'coz it's the easiest and straight way to professionalism. By the way, it was also a debut for me as a producer.

This time there was none who decided of things concerning the sound of each instrument or the way how different parts should be played or arranged...and I must say I did enjoy it a lot. It's much more responsible but than you get more satisfaction after all so...

Hm, let's talk about the songs and lyrics...

There's been lotsa changes and I'm really happy about the way it turned out. First of all, I changed as an individual during the last period and was influenced by different sources of inspiration...Not everything went the right way in my life, it seemed like these were the extreme contraries that ruled me lately...All those strange situations in my life, dealing with some specific individuals made me think in a different way of many aspects of existence. I've been in touch with a guy called Krzysztof Azarewicz who's an old friend of mine, and has been involved in occult for so long. I already knew he's written a lot of strange stuff, some poems, lyrics, besides that he's the editor of underground occult magazine and translates books...a clever guy really, with lots of great ideas etc. We decided to write kind of concept for this album, however it turned out into some separated stories speaking about the theories of kaosmagick, dealing with such great magicians like Aleister Crowley or Austin Osman Spare.

Using sophisticated vocabulary we managed to do something really special I believe...now it seems like our music fits the lyrics pretty much and vice versa. Hm, don't get me wrong...I'm still proud of "PANDEMONIC.." concept but this time we both, musically and lyrically left all the others behind! Well, music...this is what I call natural progression. We developed so much since the last album, we succeeded by recording much more mature piece, with even more variety within, with blasts not  known to any of you. Mixing brutality, technical stuff that has its source somewhere between MORBID ANGEL and NOCTURNUS, with more atmospheric passages, solo parts, some symphonic touches you may find similarities with EMPEROR etc. But yet we managed to create something unique and what we call a "BEHEMOTH's own style" with no doubts!!!"

About hailing the ancient masters...

"Harg, yeah! I'm a worshipper of MAYHEM and their "De mysteriis Dom Sathanas" album which is just a brilliant for me. I consider that piece as the biggest highlight of Black death metal scene that can't be beaten! Anyway, it's always great to have some ideal record and aiming to create something nearly great...and this is MAYHEM! It's the third time I decided to record a cover song from them. First one we did was "Deathcrush" some years ago and we place it on our official demo tape/CD "From the pagan vastlands"...Later on during GROM studio session we recorded "Freezing moon" but had no idea what to do with that one...Finally polish MMP rec. decided to release kind of comp. Double CD. with great booklet etc. And we add some exclusive bonus songs there as well...So, check out "CHAOTICA" 2CD., it's a marvellously packed digi with almost 150 minutes of music...a cool collector item by the way.

And lately AVANTGARDE MUSIC offered us to play another song from MAYHEM   for the first real tribute to this band...of course we said YEZZZZ! But most of the songs we had on mind were already taken...we were especially disappointed 'coz thought that "Buried by time and dust" would fit our style the best. Unfortunately somebody was faster...All in all we decided that "Carnage" is still pretty "unknown" song, much in old Bathory style and we thought it'd be cool to refresh it with some nicely speeded up parts, he, he...check out this song, it's so damn perfect! We called it "CARNAGE (DEVASTATION MIX)" as there are some splendid surprises to come while listening..."

About facing the troubles and perseverance...

"Hm, there have been some line up changes recently which provided some stagnation into the band. L.Kaos and Inferno left the band during studio session and now decided to pay their attention to their mother bands...sad but true. Especially after playing so successful tour with DEICIDE. Well, it's really hard to justify such a move from their side but because of this shit I'm unable to play any promotional shows with BEHEMOTH at the moment. I wish the guys all the best with their bands but at the same time I wish them being more professional and dedicated to music and not cash!!!

Anyway, there's a new line up approaching and I'm sure it'll work out fine and by the end of the year BEHEMOTH will manage to strike Europe with the deadliest extreme music ever know to man!!!

Lukasz, dobrze by bylo gdybys umiescil taki statement nad okladka SATANICA".