Welcome, Butcher Crew, to The Saw’s Butcher Shop. It’s ya girl, The Saw, and I’ve got a Single Review for you today; the lead single of an upcoming release from Behemoth. Opvs Contra Natvram is due for a September 15, 2022 release via Nuclear Blast, and from it “Ov My Herculean Exile” dropped this week (with a wicked music video).

As I’m sure you can tell, the new album title is in Latin (and you already know that ya girl had three semesters of Latin in college) and it literally means, “moving contrary to [the] current.” Nergal explains that “going against the current” is the negative of the values, morals, and ethics for which he stands. He’s speaking against, what he sees as, the destructive values of Pop Culture. He says that the new record will be a middle finger to “the current stream.” He’s hoping the new album will be a rallying cry against “cancel culture” and the disturbing and destructive mindset of popular culture.

“Ov My Herculean Exile” is a mid-tempo banger, featuring the vicious gutteral and agonizing tone that is Nergal’s main form of communication; along with his beefy chops on guitar. The excellent hand and foot work of “Inferno,” the solid thumps of “Orion” on bass, and the compliment of “Seth” (a session/touring guitarist) on second guitar produce a devastating display of the modern Behemoth sound.

The sound of the new single is full range, yet bleak – more Blackened Death Metal than it is pure Black Metal, but Behemoth have been developing a more all-encompassing sound for years. Nergal hates the genre categories, so of course he’s going to blur the lines! During the dramatic build-up in the new single, there is a straight Heavy Metal guitar solo that, I think, is perfectly placed and timed. A nice fit for the wicked storyline told in the track.

The video for “Ov My Herculean Exile” is very dark! The “exile” is nothing less than possession, murder, and suicide. It is excellently filmed and well acted. And it has GREAT gore effects – two thumbs up from The Saw!

I’ll have a deep dive into Behemoth for you when the new record drops in September, so stay tuned.

Stay Metal,

THE SAW