My life has always been all about questioning things, and this album doesn't give you [many] answers,” Adam 'Nergal' Darski remarks offorthcoming disc The Satanist, Behemoth's first LP since 2009. “All the experiences I've collected throughout the years after [previous record]Evangelion, there's been so much stuff happening that it's all there in the music. That's why we create music, to incorporate all of those feelings and emotions into notes and riffs. It's metaphysics, it's not mathematics, you know?” he laughs.

Considering the ferocious death metal crafted throughout two decades fronting the Polish crew, the opening sentence of the aforementioned quote seems a no-brainer. Factor in events of the past half-decade and it's even more striking, because the obstacles encountered would have left many desperately scrambling to comprehend their misfortune.

There was Nergal's five-month bout with leukaemia, eventually overcome in 2011, and the dissolving of his relationship with fiancée, Polish pop singer Doda. He also faces another trial and possible imprisonment in Poland on charges he insulted religious sentiment when he called the Catholic Church “the most murderous cult on the planet” and tore up a Bible during a 2007 performance.

“It is what it is; I take it day-by-day,” he reflects. “There's advantages of the fact I'm Polish and live in this country. This country makes me so hungry for being an artist, for travelling and being creative and inspired. But at the same time, it's give and take. There's a lot of opportunities that this country gives you... But it's very conservative. But then I'm thinking if it wasn't conservative, would I be into this at all?”

It's not solely his homeland the vocalist/guitarist believes is resistant to change either. “The way I see extreme metal is it lacks the danger factor. The majority of bands, they just lack real, true emotion and something that can move you. Extreme metal these days is just a definition. It's very friendly, and not being friendly in the way I'd like it to be. It's not challenging, it's not stimulating.

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