BEHEMOTH Pulls Out Of ROCKSTAR ENERGY DRINK MAYHEM FESTIVAL

Poland's blackened death metal outfit BEHEMOTH has been forced to cancel its appearance at the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival due to their drummer Inferno taking ill and requiring surgery.

Comments BEHEMOTH guitarist/vocalist Adam "Nergal" Darski: "This must have been the most difficult decision we were forced to make in recent years. BEHEMOTH is known for not canceling any shows or tours. But this is not something we can do when we are missing our driving force, the man behind the drums — Inferno. Unfortunately, he was hospitalized due to appendix surgery and it's gonna take him few months to fully recover and get back to shape. We are trying to save selected European festivals with a fill-in drummer Krimh (ex-DECAPITATED),but we won't be risking doing a full-on prestigious tour like the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival without Inferno. BEHEMOTH is a solid unit and any part of this unit missing makes us weaker, and that is not how we want to present our new material to our fans. Please, accept our apologies and be patient, we shall return to Europe (this fall) and U.S. (early 2014) empowered and motivated as never before!"

Fan-filmed video footage of BEHEMOTH's June 4 performane at the Impact Fest in Warsaw, Poland can be seen below.

BEHEMOTH will release its tenth full-length album, "The Satanist", in the fall via Nuclear Blast in Europe and Metal Blade in North America. The CD is being recorded at Hertz studio in Bialystok, Poland with the help of the Wieslawscy brothers and Daniel Bergstrand (MESHUGGAH, IN FLAMES, SOILWORK, STRAPPING YOUNG LAD). Songtitles set to appear on the effort include "Blow Your Trumpet, Gabriel" — described by Darski as "killer" and "a monster"; "Messe Noir" (French for "The Black Mass"); and "Ora Pro Nobis, Lucifer" (Latin for "Pray For Us, Lucifer").

In a brand new interview with Revolver magazine, Darski described BEHEMOTH's new songs as "very atmospheric" and "very emotional." "Think BURZUM meets NEW ORDER meets KILLING JOKE," he added. But at the same time, fans shouldn't expect the album to sound too far removed from BEHEMOTH's past efforts. "Take SLAYER, for example," Darski said. "Whatever genre they deal with, they still end up sounding like SLAYER. Even when they were flirting with nu-metal, it was a SLAYER record. Same with BEHEMOTH."

According to Darski, at least some of the inspiration for the new BEHEMOTH album is coming from his five-month bout of leukemia he overcame in January 2011, after receiving a bone-marrow transplant. "When I was in the hospital, I was collecting experiences and emotions," he said. "I'm pretty sure that it's coming out now. There are moments I catch myself thinking about how my state was back then. It was me versus life, me versus death. It definitely changed my thoughts a lot. It's 100 percent being reflected in the record and songs I'm writing nowadays. I'm way more radical than I used to be."

Regarding the title of the new BEHEMOTH album, Darski said, "It took us over two decades to come up with a title that… says it all.

"While our new songs artistically take surprisingly adventurous directions, our message stands steadfast — proud and radical.

"'The Satanist' stands for undying yearning for liberation and love for freedom in all aspects of life.

"Considering all our life experiences that often took dramatic curves, I couldn't think of more appropriate and fitting statement of who and where we are now."