Compiling BEHERIT recordings from all the periods of the band, "Complete worxxx" offers a vision of what BEHERIT (created in 1989/90, and whose main pillars are Nuclear Holocausto Vengeance and Sodomatic Slaughter) could create throughout the first 5 years of the '90s to those who do not especially know the band, and gives unreleased (or "rare") tracks to the fans who do not especially have the bootlegs of the band on which you can listen to the demos. So two tracks are from the '90 Picture EP "Dawn of Satan's millennium", 2 from the "Down there" demo tape recorded by the band in 1993 under the name LORD DIABOLUS, 2 from "Drawing down the moon" CD'92, 2 from "Electric doom synthesis" CD'95, 1 from "H418ov.21.c" CD'94 (this title means in fact "House 418 of 21st Century"), 1 from the first demo "The seventh blasphemy" (Feb. 1990), 2 from the second demo "Demonomnacy" (this demo is featured on the "Oath of black blood" CD'91 out on Turbo records), thre are also two tracks recorded live on a BEHERIT gig in Riihimaki, Finlnad, 21/08/92, one BLASPHEMY cover song and a song (from a '90 studio session) titled "Paradise, of thy demonic host" (it was re-recorded as an ambient track on the "H418ov21.c" album) For those who do not know BEHERIT, the tracks from the EP and the demos are almost all in the same vein (only their production differs), which is bestial & brutal black metal with sick screams, very close to the music played by their Canadian brothers BLASPHEMY in fact. Those from the '94 & '95 CDs are ambient/indus songs (the band called this music "Ritual music"), I am not a specialist in the style but I have to admit I really like these songs, they are very dark and obsessive tracks that will not leave your mind in peace once you listened to them. The songs taken from the "Drawing..." CD are a kind of "mix" between these periods of the band, I mean they combine the darkness and mystery of the indus CDs that would follow to the fury and aggressivity of the very first recordings. Anyway, i's hard to define "Drawing..." as BEHERIT haws its own style on this CD, nobody ever sounded like that and nobody will ever manage to sound like that. Finally, the live songs have a good sound, they are totally listenable and one of them is an "unreleased" song, "Werewolf, semen and blood", certainly written around 1990/91 as it is very similar to the demo recordings. Anyway, this is a great compilation, maybe even essential for those who have most of BEHERIT's early recordings, because it's great to be able to listen to these fucking brutal old songs on CD format ! This is absolutely not a shitty compilation CD created in roder to raise money, as BEHERIT is not a trend but a cult, and I'm not sure many people can listen to so brutal songs...

9 / 10

© 2003 lord pesten