BEHEMOTH: New Album Title Announced

Polish extreme metalers BEHEMOTH have set "Evangelion" as the title of their ninth full-length studio album, due out this summer via Metal Blade (USA) and Nuclear Blast (Europe).

Commented frontman Adam "Nergal" Darski: "I've had this title in my head for almost a year now and it grew on me. It sounds nothing but powerful and epic which perfectly mirrors the essence of the new album. 'Evangelion' comes from a Greek word [meaning] 'spreading the word of God' or 'spreading the good news'… Oh, well, you already know that we love to play with the meanings and symbolism. We're here to show you our interpretation of what 'Evangelion' really is."

Nergal previously stated about the new material, "I must confess that I'm way more excited about this record than I was for [2007's] 'The Apostasy'. It's probably the whole label situation that we had to deal back then, Inferno's injury that caused crazy deadlines that completely drained the energy out of my system… I even started treating that album as unwanted child. Weird, because from time perspective, it's a great one. This time though everything was planned much in advanced. I found time to live my life, get some energy back, get inspired and so on… When we met in October it was obvious that all of us were really hungry for making new music. It's definitely 100% BEHEMOTH. I would risk saying that we do have our own style but it's still improving, evolving in different directions every time we approach new project. Most of the songs are the really fast, technical and intense, at the same time there's a lot of diversity. There's even a very slow, massive song that's probably the most epic tracks in BEHEMOTH's history. Everything sounds more serious and…dangerous (I love that word, ha ha). There's probably more sinister vibe in our music this time too."

"Evangelion" will be mixed by Colin Richardson, who has previously worked with MACHINE HEAD, SLIPKNOT, NAPALM DEATH and CARCASS, among many others.

BEHEMOTH has been confirmed for the second annual Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival, set to take place this summer. The band will perform on the Hot Topic stage alongside CANNIBAL CORPSE, THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER, JOB FOR A COWBOY and WHITECHAPEL on over 25 dates.

"Ezkaton", the latest EP from BEHEMOTH, sold around 1,600 copies in the United States in its first week of release, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The CD debuted at No. 26 on the Top New Artist Albums (Heatseekers) chart, which lists the best-selling albums by new and developing artists, defined as those who have never appeared in the Top 100 of The Billboard 200.