review by: Roberto Martinelli

Listening to Thelema.6, and looking back on Behemoth's discography, it's a bit hard to believe that this is the same band. I'm thinking in particular of their first, and still clearly best in my mind, release, Sventevith (Storming on the Baltic). While that album is technically Behemoth's worst, it is a black metal masterpiece and the most varied of this Polish band's albums.

Their second album, Grom, was a bridge between the sound on Sventevith and the change to a more Swedish style of fast, technical black metal. Grom is a pretty weak and laughable album, but the band was feeling its way out.

After one album of fast and brutal black metal (Pandemonic Incantations) that saw Behemoth's playing skills ever improving, the band changed over to a more death metal style with their fourth full length album, Satanica.

To make this long story short, if you've heard Satanica, then you know what to expect from Thelema.6, as it's pretty much the same album. Of the two, I slightly prefer the latter, as the drums sound a little less overprocessed. Still, whatever raw, earthy, obscure sound this band had is long gone.

The musicianship is stellar, and the band hit you hard throughout with their fury. However, I long for the old days of Behemoth, as the newer material doesn't have much soul to it. It's faster, clearer, and more technical, but it is hardly memorable. This is an album that will strike you as being good as you listen to it, but you won't go back to it very much.