The influential extreme-metal frontman on I Loved You at Your Darkest and why flouting the genre’s mores is essential to its survival.
Since their debut nearly 30 years ago, Polish metal outfit Behemoth has always been unapologetically intense—musically, lyrically, and aesthetically. But with 10 studio albums now in the band’s wake, their sound has developed from a potent take on black metal’s fury into a multifaceted beast that flexes with dynamic sensibility and nuance rarely seen in extreme metal. With their 11th studio LP, the monumental I Loved You at Your Darkest, vocalist/guitarist/bandleader Adam “Nergal” Darski, bassist Thomasz “Orion” Wróblewski, and drummer Zbigniew “Inferno” Promiński (along with hired-gun lead guitarist Patryk “Seth” Sztyber) have submitted a mission statement that puts artistry at the forefront and defies the notion that great metal thrives exclusively on bludgeoning guitars and maxed faders.
A far cry from the lo-fi sonic blizzards of early Behemoth releases, I Loved You at Your Darkest is a punishing yet surprisingly diverse stomp down paths not unlike those the band took on 2014’s The Satanist. Nergal and company still brandish many of the musical weapons honed during their time as a traditional black-metal band—including searing, tremolo-picked minor chords, pummeling blast beats, and jarring tempo shifts. But these calling cards now fall in the context of arrangements that fuse black metal’s ethos and speed with death metal’s brute force and rock ’n’ roll-inspired tones and structural ideas, culminating in a sound that’s utterly Behemoth.
In fact, if the critical reception the new album has enjoyed is any indication, Behemoth is advancing extreme metal beyond the stereotypes of its various subgenres and proving that heavy music can be a form of high art when freed from the shackles of “authenticity” that establishment figures often force upon even vanguard artists.
Despite the band’s obvious love for impactful imagery—in everything from their stage makeup and attire to the feature-film-like cinematography and costuming of their videos—band visionary Nergal says he’s not interested in prog-rock or traditional narrative-style concept albums. Even so, I Loved You at Your Darkest does have a loose conceptual theme that traces the band’s trajectory over the years through 12 tracks, most of which feature the sorts of brazenly blasphemous but intellectually approached lyrical themes that have come to typify Behemoth releases.
For many casual listeners, the band’s visual drama and Nergal’s penchant for blatant profanity (which is informed by both several years of history studies at the University of Gdańsk, and his upbringing in a country where Catholicism is a dominant societal force) can be a distraction from the members’ immense prowess as instrumentalists. However, I Loved You at Your Darkest allows Behemoth’s musicianship—and Nergal’s growth as a songwriter and arranger—to shine. Underpinned by a maturity and restraint that gives the album breathing room unheard in past efforts, and accentuated by an organic production style that shirks the sterility that plagues many extreme-metal records, I Loved You at Your Darkest sees Nergal settling into the role of reformed shredder. Void of superfluous guitar solos or particularly technical flights of fancy, the mood is instead set by heaps of texture, unconventional layering ideas, and solos that truly serve the song. There’s even some acoustic guitar. That’s not to say there isn’t plenty of the churning rhythm work, atonal riffing, and angular leads that Behemoth fans have come to expect. But those elements are used more thoughtfully for greater impact.
When PG spoke with Nergal—who also fronts the dark blues ’n’ roots outfit Me and That Man—he was in the midst of a whirlwind press tour in his native Poland. While well known for his intimidating stage presence and a voice that could only belong to a man in league with Satan, we found Nergal a deep-thinking and articulate interviewee. Our discussion ranged from the new album’s writing and recording processes to lessons learned from Slayer’s Kerry King and Gary Holt, stealing from Jack White, and taking a holistic approach to art.
Behemoth’s last studio album moved away from traditional black-metal structures and started exploring more rock ’n’ roll-like elements, and I Loved You at Your Darkest takes that even further—especially with some of the alt- and classic-rock vibes in the guitars. Where were you coming from this time around?
What you hear on this record is really a summary of who we are as musicians, and who we are as artists and people. I process a lot of inspiring things from disparate places and spit them back out, and that’s what you hear in these songs. As far as my guitar playing goes, I’m definitely opening up a bit. On earlier records, I was very stiffly attached to certain sonic patterns and ideas that come from the metal world, but on The Satanist—and especially I Loved You at Your Darkest—I’ve really liberated myself and decided to go with the flow. I didn’t restrain myself or limit the exploration of an idea just because it doesn’t necessarily belong within extreme-metal or black-metal standards. We’re just much more open to freely exploring all of the influences that exist within us and that have always been there. We don’t want to end up like a hamster, chasing ourselves around on a wheel by doing the same shit over and over again, and I think you can still be an extreme-metal band and pull from other genres. So the idea is to blend elements from other musical worlds in with what we do to give our own music a wider range of colors.
TIDBIT: Nergal’s main guitars for tracking the band’s 11th LP were his signature ESP single-cuts, but Fenders—primarily a Telecaster—Gibsons, and Jacksons also factored into creating guitar sounds with a bit more classic-rock crispness.
And yet it’s still a very cohesive album—and as heavy, in its own way, as anything the band’s put out.
A lot of bands in our world play it safe and don’t want to risk losing their fan base. They follow their pattern and do the same record over and over again to stay “credible” and avoid that. Me … I need to stay credible to myself, first and foremost. My own inspiration and being honest with myself comes first, regardless of whether other people follow it. Stagnation really equals death, and I don’t want to stay in the same place. So on one hand, I do want to remain faithful to the sound that we started with—and you can hear it on this record maybe even more than anything on The Satanist with a song like “Wolves ov Siberia”—but, on the other hand, there’s stuff that you’ve never heard before on a Behemoth record … pretty adventurous ideas that are far-removed from extreme metal. It seems to be connecting with people. We did a meet and greet yesterday here in Poland, and when I asked what people’s favorite song on the record is, a lot of people said “The Crucifixion Was Not Enough…” which is a very different song for Behemoth. It means a lot to me that people seem to get it. It’s an exceptional compliment when people single out a song like that.
Speaking of “Wolves ov Siberia,” it’s perhaps the most traditional black-metal song the band has put out in years. How do you approach writing a riff like that without plagiarizing your past work?
That song is sort of the mirror song, conceptually, to “We Are the Next 1000 Years,” which is why it’s placed so early on the album and in a spot that correlates to “We Are the Next 1000 Years.” It’s supposed to represent the beginning for us both sonically and in its placement on the album.
When it comes to writing things like the riff on “Wolves,” I’m not necessarily above repeating myself. There are certain parts that I see as Behemoth signatures at this point. For example, the main guitar theme on “God = Dog” is very similar to the guitar part on “Conquer All” [from 2004’s Demigod], with that alternating high-to-low marching chord idea. That kind of riff is one of my favorite things to do on the guitar, to the point that it’s on a lot of our albums and is very much me. To my thinking, there’s nothing wrong with having sort of trademark ideas, but it really comes down to how you finish them and how you build the things around them. For example, the main guitar theme of “God = Dog” was not very exciting to me until we came up with the song’s beginning and ending, and it was the context of having all of it together that made the song exciting. So it’s not about the riff so much as the context it’s in, and that’s a big thing for this band. Riffs only make sense if you put the right elements together, and that’s when a riff can impress in a song. I don’t know that Behemoth is really a killer riff band, but when we combine that element with other things and we put it all together and pour our “sauce” on it … that’s when things get exciting for me. I really want Behemoth to be more of an experience and a bigger entity than just a rock ’n’ roll- or metal-riff-based band.
Nergal (left) and lead guitarist Patryk “Seth” Sztyber onstage at the PlayStation Theater in New York City
on November 3, 2018. Photo by Jimmy Hubbard
Can you talk about your songwriting process?
All the stuff on The Satanist was composed in regular standard tuning on a Fender Telecaster, using thin string gauges, and that felt very unusual for me. At the time, I had decided to experiment, [because] most guitarists know how much the type of guitar—and the way it’s set up—influences what you write and how you play … which is why you don’t see any country musicians using B.C. Rich guitars. Certain tools can bring out very specific sounds and music, and I felt like that method worked really well on The Satanist. So, this time around, I wrote much of the album on a Gretsch guitar—which are really no good for shredding or speed metal. When I play that guitar, I do it in the same way people might when they sit around a campfire and play with friends—casually, using a lot of big open chords. I give the parts more negative space, too. I also find that when I write on that guitar I let song structures breathe more, and that really informed the songwriting on this record. That’s why there’s so much air in these songs.
The new album’s production sounds extremely organic—especially compared to how synthetic many black- and death-metal recordings sound these days. Was that intentional?
Yeah! Absolutely. The biggest problem I have with black or death metal these days is, when these records get to the mixing and mastering point, they make the instruments compete with each other. When I say that the new Behemoth album is a rock-oriented black-metal record, what I mean is that we make space for every instrument to shine. We build the song around each element having space to shine on its own. When they all come in together as one, in a big fucking climactic moment, that’s a huge trick to pull off. That’s what I’ve learned from listening to AC/DC, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones. Burzum never taught me that. Morbid Angel—or really anything in that [metal] world—never taught me that. So, I really like to take that philosophy from the rock world into the world of extreme metal.
Behemoth did quite a bit of touring with Slayer, and I’ve always appreciated the way the instruments on their classic albums have their own space—especially on the ones Rick Rubin produced. Those songs are heavier because they rely on musical ideas rather than loud production and a dense mix.
I totally agree with that. I was blasting South of Heaven on my car stereo a few days ago while driving around on this press tour, and I had that same exact reflection and made that parallel with I Loved You … and Slayer in particular. We really wanted to build layers and make music in a multidimensional way, and blending instruments in a mix without forcing them to compete with each other is the key.
Did you learn anything as a guitarist from your time on the road with Slayer?
Kerry King and Gary Holt are both amazing, unique guitarists. Gary Holt is such an incredible shredder. He’s one of the best guitar players in the genre and I fucking love his style. And Kerry’s right hand is really untouchable. He’s like a guitar soldier to me. Kerry looks and plays like a reckless, relentless, repentless, unstoppable machine. Those two are a part of my guitar hero firmament and are inarguably some of the most important heavy metal players out there—especially considering that they’re still out there kicking ass on the road and doing it right.
For me, it’s very important to look at a guitarist holistically: how you present yourself, how you approach the stage, how you sell what you’re doing as a musician to the crowd—and that’s something few people do as well as Gary Holt and Kerry King. I can be totally indifferent about a player if they’re not fully involved in their performances, the way Gary and Kerry are. They’re really like demon brothers, and I just love them and try to take what I can from watching them.
Guitars
ESP LTD Nergal-6 with Fishman Fluence Modern Humbuckers (Alnico in neck position, Ceramic in bridge)
ESP LTD HEX-7 Nergal Signature V with EMG 81-7 and 707 pickups
Fender Telecaster
Takamine acoustic
Amps
Peavey 5150
Bogner Uberschall
Splawn head
Effects
Ibanez Tube Screamer
Boss NS-2 Noise Suppressor
Strings and Picks
Dunlop 1 mm picks
D’Addario .011–.056 string sets
Who else would you cite as particularly influential to your guitar journey?
One of the most underrated guitar players out there, and one that had a big impact on me, is Mantas [Jeffrey Dunn] from Venom. I was maybe 8 years old when I was confronted with Venom’s art, and I was hooked right away and became a fan for life. I think Mantas is amazing! Tony Iommi, Jimmy Page, and Angus Young are really important to me when it comes to classic and more obvious guitar players. Modern guys that I like that aren’t metal players, but have a unique sound and a certain kind of charisma to their playing that I really appreciate, are Lenny Kravitz and Jack White. I just saw Jack White a few days ago in Krakow and he was fucking amazing! I always try to steal something from people—even from other genres—and when I watch Jack White, even though he’s from a different galaxy, I want to find something in his playing to sneak into Behemoth’s music.
From my own genre, Euronymous from Mayhem, Tom G. Warrior from Celtic Frost, and Trey Azagthoth of Morbid Angel are some of the most innovative guitarists in the extreme-metal world.
If you look at each of the people I’ve mentioned across genres, in most cases they’re frontmen or otherwise very charismatic and have this ability to hit the stage and impart a sense of magic to a crowd. It resonates, and it’s immensely impressive to watch people that can do more than just hold the instrument and play this or that very well. It’s having a bigger picture of musicianship and performance that I look for and find inspiring.
Tell me about the Gretsch you used to write the new album?
I wound up getting a Gretsch endorsement through my other band, Me and That Man, and they were really generous. I have a White Falcon, a Billy Duffy signature Black Falcon, and a Duo Jet reissue that’s amazing. I really love those guitars and I use them a lot, but I just write on them when it comes to Behemoth.
Scott Splawn tells how his four-person operation evolved from modding his own plexis to customizing stock Marshalls as a dealer and finally to building “brown sound” wonders for players like Steve Stevens and prolific metal producer Adam Dutkiewicz.
Splawn’s most popular amp, the 2-channel, 100-watt Quick Rod, is voiced for hot-rodded ’80s
tones, and its overdrive channel features Hot Rod Plexi, Hot Rod 800, and Super Hot Rod 800 modes.
Splawn developed his designs by modding old and new Marshall amps and learning through trial and error how these legendary heads could be made even more crushing and versatile—all while running his own music store, Splawn Guitars, and gigging extensively with local bands.
For the past six years, Splawn and a small crew have been making killer amps—mostly in the head-and-cabinet style—all by hand from start to finish. These flexible amps have earned some high-profile devotees, including Steve Stevens, Dokken’s Jon Levin, and Killswitch Engage’s Adam Dutkiewicz.
Splawn amps are available in a variety of racing-themed coverings,
as shown by this black-and-white-striped Quick Rod.
Splawn’s amp shop is behind the storefront of his eponymous guitar boutique, which is crammed with axes by Charvel, ESP, and other metal-approved makers—instruments perfectly suited for his aggressive stacks. While the guitar world at large has been catching on to Splawn amplifiers, many of the store’s local visitors are completely unaware of what’s going on in back. “A lot of customers have never even heard of our amplifiers,” says Splawn.
We recently chatted with Splawn to learn more about the genesis and evolution of his amps, which, given the company’s growing league of enthusiasts, certain North Carolinians will likely learn more about soon.
How did you get into modifying amplifiers?
In the mid ’90s, I opened Splawn Guitars, where I sold instruments and did repair work on stringed instruments. I wanted to also be able to work on tube amps, so I studied up on them by reading how-to and electronics books. This gave me a decent knowledge of how amps work and how to repair them. Then I started doing mods on some of my own old Marshalls, to give them some extra gain. As I was working on an amp, I’d take it to rehearsals and gigs—I played in a bunch of cover bands and Christian rock groups—to see how it worked in context. By experimenting I learned to make the best-sounding mods I could. Once I got my customized amps sounding like I wanted, I took them to the shop, where customers would check them out and then bring in their own gear for me to mod.
Cabinetmaker Brian Smith routes the edge of a Splawn head.
Owner and founder Scott Splawn works inside one of his amp chassis.
What sort of mods did you provide?
My most common mod involved completely rewiring the preamp to an all-tube, four-gain stage, which made for lots of headroom, rich harmonics, and sustain. Some customers also wanted things like a half-power switch, an effects loop, and a footswitchable solo boost—mods that would make their amps a bit more versatile.
How’d you get your name out there in the beginning?
A couple of customers put audio clips of my modded amps on internet forums, and that’s when I started getting calls from people all over wanting to send me their amps for updating. Some players wanted to get the sound of one of my modded amps, but didn’t have any equipment to send me, so I started to buy used amps on eBay to modify and resell. But after awhile I ran into a problem where I could no longer find amps at the right price to justify modding them, so I ended up getting hooked up as a Marshall dealer. Since I got the amps at cost, I’d take a couple of different brand-new models— the 1959SLP and JCM800 reissues— modify them, and sell them for the same price that other dealers sold standard new Marshalls.
When and why did you go from modding amps to building them?
In the early 2000s, Marshall had a pretty substantial price increase, and that turned some customers off. So, I started sourcing out parts and building my own amps from scratch. The first amps with my name on them came out in 2004.
Are all your amps all-tube?
They’re absolutely all-tube. Some other makers use diode-clipping distortion in their amps, but I find that all-tube distortion has a more organic feel, with greater harmonic content.
What components go into a Splawn amp?
When I first started modding amps, I went through a lot of different brands of capacitors and resistors to find the components that sounded best to my ear. I don’t want to give away our brands, but I use the same parts in my own amps. We’ve stuck with all the same components since we started to try to keep the amps as consistent as possible. We don’t cut any corners. It doesn’t matter if they go up in price, we just have to keep using what we know to be the best parts we can get our hands on, since they contribute so much to the sound. I also use Heyboer transformers. They’re the secret weapon—most of my tone comes from those transformers, and they’re also a great company to do business with.
Are your circuit boards point-to-point or printed?
Our amps feature both types of circuit board. From years of doing mods, I’ve learned that to get the sound I want, all of the critical gain stages have to be point-to-point. But for some of the switching circuits, power sections, etc., we use printed circuit boards, which don’t detract from the tone and are a lot more durable out there in the field. Printed circuit boards can also save a lot of time—something that’s crucial when your operation is as small as mine.
Electrical tech Josh Mauldin solders a PC board.
Brian Einsiger wires a 4x12 cab after having applied the Tolex covering.
How small is your shop?
Four people, including myself—the same crew since the beginning. I have one guy who helps me in the shop, stuffing and soldering the boards. I do the rest of the wiring, all by hand, and test the amp through the burn-in process—all of which takes me about six hours of work per amp. And I’ve got two guys in our shop’s cabinet section: one who does the woodworking and another who does the finishing work with Tolex.
How many total hours go into making a Splawn?
It’s difficult to say, since we’re four people working on different amps at the same time, but I would estimate that about 12 hours of work go into each amp, cabinet included. It takes us so long because we don’t use any amp kits. Everything’s done by hand, and all of the sockets and switches are chassis mounted—there’s nothing board mounted. It’s a time-honored technique that’s worked really well for us. We seldom hear about problems with our amps.
So how many amps do you average per week?
Around five or so.
Would you ever consider selling Splawn amp kits to those who’re electronically inclined?
No, because of the liability involved and also, to do it right, I’d want to be available to answer any questions that customers might have about assembling their kits. Between designing and building the amps and all of my other responsibilities, like paying bills and ordering parts, unfortunately I don’t have the time for that.
What’s it been like to work in North Carolina, a great distance from any major music city?
It feels good, since it’s where I grew up and where I got started playing music and working on amps. The cost of living is pretty low, so I don’t have to worry about overhead like some makers do. But it is hard being away from the big scene—I don’t have the advantages I might in a place like LA, where there’d be big-name players dropping in all the time. And, being such a small company, it’s not feasible at this point for me to go to a trade show like NAMM. I can’t afford the time away from the shop, because we’re constantly backlogged.
Speaking of the Carolinas, home to so many auto sports, your amps all have names evocative of cars.
Yes, all my amp model names come from drag racing. I’ve always been into that sport. My older brother did it for a long time and that left quite an impression on me. I also see a connection between hot-rodded amps and drag cars: both are very loud and powerful machines.
The 40-watt Street Rod is a combo version of the Quick Rod
that features a 12" Eminence Small Block speaker.
Tell us more about the whole product line.
All of our amps are based on the same Marshall head-and-cabinet platform that got me noticed in the first place. Our first amp was called the Quick Rod, and it’s our most popular model to this day. It’s a 100- watt, 2-channel, hot-rodded ’80s-sounding amp. The overdrive channel has three positions, which I call Gears, to go along with the automotive theme. There’s first gear, Hot Rod Plexi; second gear, Hot Rod 800; and third gear, Super Hot Rod 800. On all the amps, there are footswitchable lead and rhythm sounds, and a solo boost with its own Volume control.
A newer amp of ours is called the Nitro. It’s basically set up the same way as the Quick Rod, but voiced to have more low end, more gain, and less midrange to suit the modern metal player. A lot of guitarists have been asking for smaller versions of our amps, so we recently came out with the Street Rod—basically, a 40-watt combo version of the Quick Rod with a single 12" speaker. It has been really well received. Our other amps, such as the Competition and the Pro Stock, are basically just stripped-down, single-channel versions of the Quick Rod and the Street Rod.
What types of new amps do you envision adding to the line?
We’re currently working on a new type of multi-channel head, as well as some combo versions of various amps.
I noticed that none of your amps have any effects.
We don’t do any effects. We just make straight-up amps and aim to get the best raw sound we can. We don’t want players to be stuck with whatever effects we put in an amp. But since so many guitarists these days use outboard processing for electronic sounds, we put effects loops in our amps.
How would you describe that “best raw sound”?
It’s got a lot of midrange. It cuts through the mix really well. It’s very dynamic, and it reacts sensitively to different pickups, guitars, and speakers. What you put into a Splawn amp is what you get out. If you play hard, it’ll growl at you. If you lighten up, it’ll obey you. When you roll your guitar’s volume knob back on the overdrive channel, the sound cleans up really well. Splawn amps have definitely got their own thing going on—they don’t sound like anything else.
This incarnation of the Splawn Quick Rod features classic plexi styling.
What sorts of players are Splawn amps geared toward?
While we’ve got guitarists of all styles using our amps, they’re designed with the heavier player in mind. The Quick Rod, for instance, is ideal for copping the sort of sound that someone like Eddie Van Halen, George Lynch, or Warren DeMartini had in the 1980s. But any of our amps will work for a more modern sound as well. Tony Rombola of Godsmack, for instance, has recorded with both a Nitro and a Quick Rod.
Have you redesigned your amps at all based on player input?
Yes. Once our amps caught on, we learned that a lot of players didn’t actually get to use them for what they were designed for—loud music in big spaces. So we’ve made the amps more manageable at lower volumes for guitarists who play in smaller clubs or even just at home. To do that, we’ve made a very small adjustment—we added a volume control on the effects loop.
How do you feel about amp modeling?
It has come a long way in the last few years, but to my ear there’s still nothing out there that comes close to replicating the responsiveness and harmonic content of a real tube amplifier. I’m not saying there won’t be, there just hasn’t been anything yet. There’s still nothing like a tube amp, and I hope for our sake it stays that way.