<img src="https://s3-ap-southeast-1.amazonaws.com/tm-img-description/bbb787a0671711ee911101117567899b.jpg" style="width: 533px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"> In the annals of metal &nbsp; &nbsp;there is no band more synonymous with an unswerving commitment to the single-minded defiance of expectation than Behemoth. Over the course of their remarkable 31-year career, these Polish hellraisers &ndash; spearheaded by Adam Darski, aka Nergal &ndash; are more than just the architects of their country&rsquo;s legendary extreme metal scene. Over the course of three decades and previous 11 albums, Nergal&rsquo;s singular vision has forged Behemoth into something far more than a mere black metal band. Beyond any confines of genre, they have grown to become nothing less than the personification of rebellion, individuality and unflinching self-expression informed by a literate worldview and worldliness that&rsquo;s resulted in a locking of horns with everything from the mainstream press to the Polish Catholic church &ndash; most notably manifesting in Nergal&rsquo;s trial for blasphemy in 2010 that only served to expose the deep-seated hypocrisies that his music seeks to challenge. It also highlighted the distinct lack of fucks that he has to give. Now world-renowned and yet exuberantly underground in their convictions, Behemoth are perhaps the unlikeliest of success stories, but if their stratospheric ascent and hard-won commercial achievement can be attributed to anything, it&rsquo;s a cast-iron unwillingness to compromise. As Opvs Contra Natvram, their 12th studio release heralds from the rooftops &ndash; their longevity is down to a resolute commitment to find new ways to enthrall and inspire their ever-growing legion of latter-day heretics, a determination which shows no signs of erosion. It&rsquo;s changing times and new battles to fight to which Nergal attributes Behemoth&rsquo;s unique ability to sound fresh despite their incredible tenure. Therein lies the inspiration for the album&rsquo;s title and striking cover artwork.&ldquo;The album title means going against the current. It&rsquo;s the negative of the values and morals and ethics that I stand against. I&rsquo;ve seriously been wrestling with destructive tendencies in pop culture - cancel culture, social media, and tools which I feel are very dangerous weapons in the hands of people who are not competent to judge others. That&rsquo;s something which I find very destructive and disturbing and extremely limiting coming from an artists&rsquo; perspective. This is my middle finger to that. There&rsquo;s a song on the record called Neo-Spartacvs. Spartacus was one of the most iconic rebels in history who went against the most powerful empire of all time. In the end it&rsquo;s me screaming, &lsquo;I Am Spartacus, and so are you!&rsquo; I want to spark that flame of rebellion. If something seems wrong then stand up to it!&rdquo;Never being fully satisfied and never getting comfortable is the basis of the ferocious sounds to be found on&nbsp;Opvs&hellip;,&nbsp;too, and as Nergal explains, our viral armageddon afforded him the perfect opportunity to luxuriate in the one thing that Behemoth&rsquo;s growing empire has never afforded him - time.&nbsp;&ldquo;This is the most thoughtful, the most thought-through, the most mature thing we&rsquo;ve done &ndash; it&rsquo;s quintessentially Behemoth&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s just bangers &ndash; all meat, no fat.&rdquo;Renowned for his meticulous attention to detail and absolute creative control of Behemoth&rsquo;s world, the depressurised environment afforded by the pandemic meant that for nearly the first time since the band&rsquo;s inception there was no deadline to observe, allowing for a nearly unprecedented level of attention to the process of writing and recording.&nbsp;&ldquo;To me it&rsquo;s one blurry year, but we&rsquo;d do these sessions, four five days on just one guitar part, re-record the stuff, go back - that was amazing. Like everyone on the planet, I&rsquo;ve found myself in a completely unprecedented situation &ndash; this paralysis. I haven&rsquo;t had that much time since I was hospitalized for cancer,&rdquo; he says, referring to his bout with leukemia in 2010. Of the time leading up to the creation of Opvs, he says: &ldquo;I&rsquo;d just come off this massive arena tour with Slipknot which was a big success for us, but I was so worn out and I was calling out to the universe for a remedy. It was something I really needed &ndash; to take my time, just breathing and surviving. It felt good. I haven&rsquo;t done that since ancient times. When you&rsquo;re a professional musician you&rsquo;re just living by touring cycles. To be like, &lsquo;this is a good word, let me try 50 others.&rsquo; To be fully absorbed into that process. I needed that.&rdquo; <img src="https://s3-ap-southeast-1.amazonaws.com/tm-img-description/db179a91671711ee911101117567899b.jpg" style="width: 475px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib">The 10 chapters of fury that make up Opvs Contra Natvram were written and recorded over the course of a very strange year for the world, a situation which only heightened the level of craft seen in these 43 minutes and 15 seconds of honed, searing wrath. As with previous studio outings, Opvs&hellip; was produced by Behemoth with engineering duties undertaken by acclaimed Meshuggah, Dimmu Borgir and In Flames producer Daniel Bergstrand. Mixing, however, involved a new player on the chessboard who you&rsquo;d be hard-pressed to guess - famed producer and mixer Joe Barresi, a studio legend with a breathtaking credits list which includes Queens of the Stone Age, Nine Inch Nails, Alice in Chains and Tool just to name a few. He was chosen for his celebrated ability to simultaneously preserve a studio recording&rsquo;s organic feel and identity, and the inspiration for the decision comes from a place you&rsquo;d least expect.&nbsp;&ldquo;So much sounds flat,&rdquo; says Nergal. &ldquo;it&rsquo;s not about how professional you sound, because everything sounds professional and overproduced these days, but you don&rsquo;t need to make everything perfect &ndash; just let it breathe. When you listen to David Bowie, every song has identity &ndash; I asked, &lsquo;does the scene really need another album that sounds like everything else?&rsquo; Every record I&rsquo;ve made is me standing in front of motherfucking Mount Everest. Do I make it? Well I have to try.&rdquo;And from the sound of&nbsp;Opvs&hellip;&nbsp;there is no doubting the artistic summit that Nergal and Behemoth are aiming for. From the colossal energy of opener&nbsp;Post-God Nirvana&nbsp;to the epic and righteous indignation of&nbsp;Ov My Herculean Exile&nbsp;and album-closer Versvs Christvs - a riveting extended track featuring piano and clean vocals which are destined to turn heads, Behemoth&rsquo;s latest is the ultimate soundtrack to these strange and troubled times.