BEHEMOTH — And the Forests Dream Eternally (review)

BEHEMOTH — And the Forests Dream Eternally album cover

EP · 1995 · Black Metal

3.5/5 · 2016-08-08
siLLy puPPy

After four demos BEHEMOTH finally released their first official EP in August, 1994. AND THE FORESTS DREAM ETERNALLY continued the band’s black metal fury and was released on the Entropy Productions label. The original 1994 release contained only five tracks but the remastered editions from 2005 on include three additional bonus tracks including “Version 97” of “Sventevith Storming Near The Baltic” which ironically is the title of their first full length release where it wasn’t included. Frost stuck around for the first EP after a demo but would soon bail after this was released leaving once again Nergal and Baal as the only official members.

It all starts with the squawking of crows and the sounds of nature before erupting into the second wave black metal fury of “Transylvanian Forest” which includes the usual highly caustic buzz saw guitar assault with Baal’s unique drumming techniques. The bass is subdued mixed into the guitars almost imperceptibly and Nergal’s vocal growls are wild and unhinged like a madman going off a tangent. The keyboard atmospheric embellishments found on the previous demos are mostly missing from this one and we get a stripped down straight black type of metal but there are atmospheric ambient intros and when the music slows down from full fury a slight haze can be heard in the background. There are at times full on Emperor type key assaults for short bursts of time.

This album is a lot more energetic than the demos. This is no longer black metal laziness bordering on doom metal. This is energetic, furious, bestial and brutal. Baal stepped up his drumming techniques significant despite being recognizable as his. While the album tends to drift on in a repetitive manner as most of the tracks sound very similar, there are a few tempo changes in various tracks as to give some break from the monotonous distortion. “Forgotten Empire Of Dark Witchcraft” is one of those tracks that has a the buzz saw distortion in the background with a clean guitar in front. Baal has almost a military march going on and the atmospheric wind howls add a nice touch.

All of the tracks on AND THE FORESTS DREAM ETERNALLY are performed quite competently and display a mature band that has entered the big boy’s arena in the black metal world. BEHEMOTH is credited for opening up the extreme metal world to their native Poland. The track “Pure Evil And Hate” is noteworthy as it’s a tribute to Bathory and is still played live as a closer at live gigs. In fact i would compare this EP to the sound of early Bathory. This early EP can be found as its own release or as a better deal on the 2003 5-CD boxed set “Historica” that covers the band’s black metal years before changing their sound on “Satanica.” While not one of their absolute best, this debut EP is a nice heavy slice of second wave black metal and the bonus tracks are nice welcome additions.