BEHEMOTH's NERGAL Gets His Visual Inspiration From 'Anywhere'

Conny Schiffbauer of WDR's "Rockpalast" conducted an interview with guitarist/vocalist Adam "Nergal" Darski of Polish extreme metallers BEHEMOTH on July 2 at the With Full Force festival in Löbnitz, Germany. You can now watch the chat at WDR.de. A couple of excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On whether he switches to another personality when he walks on stage to perform with BEHEMOTH:

Nergal: "Well, it's just my inner self manifested in a very radical and artistic way. So, in a way, yeah, I'm becoming someone else, but at the same time, I'm the same person, you know what I mean? I don't know if it's a Dr. Jekyll-and-Mr. Hyde kind of deal. But, yeah, there's some alchemy happening there on stage, and I can physically, calmly feel that I'm just… Like, my voice changes, the way I walk changes — everything changes — once I've got all my gear on me. But then I don't really overanalyze it. It feels very natural to do both — to be offstage and onstage. And, yeah, I just can't live without either one."

On when he first starts getting in the mood for a live performance — when he puts on his makeup on or when he walks onstage:

Nergal: "Prior to the show, I feel the adrenaline going and there's some chemical process happening within the body and the excitement growing, and, yeah, some kind of anxiety, too, just drives me through the show. And then all the rest is basically just an extra value. The makeup is an extra value, but it's super important. So on a show day, I already feel that it's happening, so I wake up with this feeling here [touches his chest], that it's happening tonight."

On when BEHEMOTH decided that the visual aspect of the band's presentation was as important as the music:

Nergal: "Well, from the very start. The band started in '91, and we did the second photo session in March '92, and we were already wearing corpsepaint. And I was, like, 16 back then, so from the very started I [decided] that this was gonna be the direction for the band. And then, throughout all the career, it would just develop and it would just change, and we would just switch forms, but the core is the same."

On where he gets his visual inspiration from:

Nergal: "Anywhere. Anywhere, really. I just try to keep my eyes open to any forms of inspiration, and it's just floating around. It can be a book, it can be… I travel a lot, so I just take pictures, make notes, and I just steal ideas from all over the world."

BEHEMOTH completed a North America tour this past spring where the band played its latest album, "The Satanist", in its entirety. In addition to the concert, fans also had the chance to view "The Congregation" exhibition at each venue. Dubbed "a symbiosis of BEHEMOTH and Toxic Vision," the display showcased the collaboration between the two parties.

"The Satanist" sold around 10,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 34 on The Billboard 200 chart.