Behemoth have gone through massive improvements as musicians and now they are finally able to really convince me as one of the best acts in the Black Metal scene. With "Grom" they have acquired a much deeper tone to all the different approaches in their style, be it the atmospheric stuff or the fast and brutal attacks. The production does justice to the excellent tracks - bass and drums are powerful as fuck and simply crushing!
The melodic side of Behemoth is now perhaps a little less evident, but their characteristic melodic riffs are still to be found as well as the acoustic guitar inputs, which see their atmospheric side at times enhanced by male epic-toned singing and some guitar solos on some moments that sound quite expressive; intentionally or not, some of the atmosphere brings to my mind traces of Gothic Rock, but the original drive of the Poles' Black Metal is in no way hindered, much the contrary, it is much stronger - the stuff is much faster and powerful and at times comparable to Mayhem or Immortal. Traces of Celtic Frost as well as bits of other older acts can also be felt and some quite 80's Thrash-oriented moments. The variation throughout the album is also notorious and generally each song possesses a small detail of its own - 'Dragon's Lair' features some keyboard orchestrations, some excellent epic moments and even a bass guitar solo!, 'Lasy Pomorza' and 'Grom' are sung in Polish and have a somewhat Folkish flavor, 'Rising Proudly Towards the Sky' has a melodic line somewhat similar to Dissection and features a great keyboard solo and a quite Thrashy finale and there are even some female vocals, used on 'Grom' and 'The Dark Forest'!
At the end of the day, it's still Behemoth, but in my opinion now they are better than ever! Intense and fucking brilliant! This fucking rules, and guess what! - it's even original!