BEHEMOTH - 'In Absentia Dei' / IMPERIAL TRIUMPHANT
Date: 05th September, 2020
Venue: Undisclosed location in Poland
Ticket: $14 (early bird / director’s cut)
Promoter: Behemoth.pl
The pre-show started with behind-the-scenes footage and Nergal showing the 120 years old church (and the surroundings that indeed looked like a festival setting with a lot of people working to get this up to par for a BEHEMOTH show). I mean, they had to cover huge holes on the floor and set up some pyro effects and lots of lights. From the get-go, it became quite obvious that the direction, the picture quality and sound would be top notch and therefore the event would turn out to be value for money. However, this cannot and will never be considered as a live show, so please, do not refer to events like these as "concerts". At the same time, some serious effort needs to be invested to get that extra 'oomph' and cover the lack of a live audience.
After the 15-min footage, Nergal prepped the way for IMPERIAL TRIUMPHANT who would be streaming from New York. The masked lineup started their performance in what appeared to be a small venue (The Slipper Room). The sound was pretty good but the picture was not, unless this was done intentionally to add a sense of obscurity. OK, watching the singer opening up a champagne under trumpet Jazz sounds was definitely progressive but it did match the New York footage shown in black and white. It was impressive to see that there were 5500 metalheads watching this and it begged the question if the same number or even more would join for the BEHEMOTH set. It should be noted though that this streaming was free so it was kind of expected to not be any close near to the level of the main event. After “Atomic Age”, it was time to utilize the champagne bottle for a bass solo that was enhanced with lots of effects long enough to lead up to “Cosmopolis”. This was the last song of the set and there was a 15-min break until the main event. This was a great opportunity for IMPERIAL TRIUMPHANT to get more exposure during these dry-from-tours period.
IMPERIAL TRIUMPHANT setlist:
01. “Rotted Futures”
02. “Transmission To Mercury”
03. “Atomic Age”
04. “Cosmopolis”
IMPERIAL TRIUMPHANT
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(click to enlarge)
Right on time, the stream kicked in showing four riders with black flags galloping hard towards the church that soon would host the event. The four riders were the BEHEMOTH lineup that entered the stage walking through a flaming arch. Damn, that looked awesome! “Evoe” was the first track of the set and the direction, picture quality and sound were of music video clip quality. The lights and the cut-scenes of the outside of the church looked absolutely killer. There were short video transitions between songs, and although it did look great, was a bit of a mood killer in terms of getting the sense that you are watching a performance recorded on one take.
The lights were changing colors for almost every song, with spotlights cleverly positioned outside the church making the footage even more evil. By the way, the BEHEMOTH lineup was performing at some kind of altar where usually priests stand during regular service. Speaking of services, Act II started with a fireshow from a hooded-priest-looking guy doing his thing with “Blow Your Trumpets Gabriel” and lots of pyro effect topping off the visual and audio galore. “Can you see us Legions, can you hear us?”, asked Nergal and gave me the chills despite the fact of this being a pre-recorded stream. I guess this proves that the video quality was great enough to wake some feelings of experiencing a real live concert in person. Because, I cannot believe that one would get the same excitement just by watching this without having prior experience of the real thing. The acrobat dancing suspended on air was another cool feature during “Antichristian Phenomenon”. By the way, Nergal looked in-the-zone for the video set-up, meaning that he was interacting with the cameras, doing his part to make this even more special. Before “Conquel All” he addressed the Legions “who were watching from all around the world” and I am sure sent shivers down the spine of everyone connected when he said “we are together in this and together we shall conquer”.
When you are playing inside a church, you just need to have a song titled “Lucifer” on the set, right? Oh boy, the direction was stunning with outside cut-scenes and with Orion wearing a feathered helmet-like hat-thing. The center of the church was hosting something like an altar, adding the appropriate blackness to the whole setting. With Nergal showing us to remain silent, it was time for Act III and for some nerve-wrecking suspension show from an all-white painted lady with a black-painted inverted cross on her forehead. Watching her enduring the pain of flesh-piercing hooks and then getting suspended in the air opposite of BEHEMOTH while performing “Ora Pro Nobis Lucifer” was horror-movie material (that blood on her white skin was as real as they come). It was only fitting to follow this with “Satan’s Sword (I Have Become)”. By the way, the setlist was touching upon the entire BEHEMOTH back-catalogue and that was (also) awesome. Whoever researched and found all those artists that participated in the filming deserves additional credit; I mean, a dancer with a cube on fire during “Ov Fire And The Void”?
For “Chwała Mordercom Wojciecha”, Nergal showed up with a spotlight / bullhorn in hand and started his preaching standing higher than the floor-stage, putting 'blasphemous' in capital, bold and fiery letters. Then, he showed up at the middle of the church, setting two ritualistic daggers on fire. It was full on with “As Above So Below” and especially with the neck-snapping “Slaves Shall Serve” (another fitting for Sunday church service)... “Are you with us?”, asked Nergal and of course we were! With the name of Satan echoing inside the church (how cool was that?), BEHEMOTH kicked off Chant for “Eschaton 2000” with fake blood coming from their mouths and pyro effects going strong from every direction. “Stay strong, healthy and free. Hail Satan” was Nergal’s way to conclude the stream and thank everyone for watching. Oh, it was our pleasure, guys, watching you writing a new chapter in Metal history. But they were not done... There was Act IV with Orion getting his bow, and with a blazing arrow, he set six inverted crosses on fire. Oh yeah, it was encore time... starting off with “Sculpting the Throne Ov Seth” and continuing at mid-tempo with the atmospheric “Bartzabel” with Nergal wearing his head prop from the “I Loved You At Your Darkest” photo sessions. The return to blast-beat speeds was with “we destroy angels with sound, we destroy angels with sound” spoken lyrics from “Decade Of Therion”.
With the church looking like it has been set on fire (hold your horses, it was not) and with Nergal’s face painted with blood, BEHEMOTH sealed the blasphemous deal with “O Father O Satan O Sun”. During the spoken part of this one, the show circled all the way to the beginning, with the band wearing the riders’ gear concluding in a dramatic way this stellar streaming event.
I am sure Nergal did manage to fulfill his target of pissing off all those who are attacking BEHEMOTH for all things anti-christian. Oh yeah, BEHEMOTH did this in a grand way, and on top of this, set the bar extremely high for anyone who would like to put together another event like this. I hope they will make this available as Blu-ray because it would be a shame to not being able to add it to your collection for future unholy repeats.
BEHEMOTH setlist:
ACT I
01. “Evoe”
02. “Wolves Ov Siberia”
03. “Prometherion”
04. “From The Pagan Vastlands”
ACT II
05. “Blow Your Trumpets Gabriel”
06. “Anticristian Phenomenon”
07. “Conquer All”
08. “Lucifer”
ACT III
09. “Ora Pro Nobis Lucifer”
10. “Satan’s Sword (I Have Become)”
11. “Ov Fire And The Void”
12. “Chwała Mordercom Wojciecha (997-1997 Dziesięć Wieków Hańby)”
13. “As Above So Below”
14. “Slaves Shall Serve”
15. “Chant For Eschaton 2000”
ACT IV
16. “Sculpting the Throne Ov Seth”
17. “Bartzabel”
18. “O Father O Satan O Sun”
BEHEMOTH (screenshots)
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(click to enlarge)