Black Metal & Blasphemy: Behemoth Conquers All In San Diego

As I arrived at The Observatory in North Park, San Diego, I noticed there was a line of metal heads, dressed in the usual black band shirt attire with the occasional battle vest, still waiting to get in. Unfortunately I was running late, due to some traffic delays, and as I was waiting to pick up my pass and ticket from the box office, I could hear the roar of the crowd through the building walls as Immolation began to play. By the time I made it through security, it was past the three song limit, so I was unable to photograph them. However, watching from the crowd, they put on a ferocious set, quickly getting the crowd moving.

This was the first stop on Behemoth’s “The Godless IV” North American tour. Seemingly to try and pack on as many extreme metal onto one tour, they brought along three other bands, Immolation, Rotting Christ, and Deicide. The venue was completely sold out and it was a struggle making it through the crowd up to the front barricade.

After a short while, the Greek band Rotten Christ took to the stage. They had a commanding presence, quickly engaging with the crowd. Their chant-like choruses had the crowd singing back every word. Not long afterwards, Deicide came onstage and there was a shift in energy. Pure straight aggression came out of those stage speakers. Their pummeling guitar riffs quickly had the mosh pit moving. And their vocalist had some of the deepest gutturals I’ve ever heard in death metal.

After a longer intermission, the lights went out and fog filled the room. One by one, the members of Behemoth took their place onstage. From the very first note, you can feel this wasn’t going to be a standard metal show. Ripping into one of their newer songs, “The Shadow Elite,” there was almost a ceremonious atmosphere to their performance. Wearing corpse paint and black leather attire, Behemoth is no stranger to theatrics. Their set consisted of a variety of songs from their long discography, including “Conquer All,” “Ov Fire and the Void,” and even a cover of a song from the band Bathory, one of the early pioneers in the creation of black metal, called “The Return of Darkness and Evil.”

Even after 30 years, Behemoth hasn’t lost their edge, only refined it. Frontman Kim and vocalist Nergal orchestrated the crowd with an intense energy. Every riff and blast beat was played with extreme precision and every death growl carried weight behind it, like a spell was being cast. At the end of their set, they walked offstage and the lights dimmed low again. Roars from the crowd began, calling for an encore. Behemoth took to the stage again, this time wear full robes, like ancient dark priests. For their final song they played “O Father O Satan O Sun!,” the final track from their magnum opus of an album, The Satanist. There was a finite yet accomplished feeling as the song ended, and the band walked off stage. It was a performance full of dark religious imagery, soaring vocal chants, and crushing guitars. Behemoth had concluded their night of rituals and left everything they had onstage.