BEHEMOTH's NERGAL Rips Internet Haters: 'If You Don't Have Balls To Come And Say Things In My Face, You Can F*** Off'

In a new interview with Finland's Radio Rock, guitarist Sven "Silenoz" Kopperud of Norwegian symphonic black metallers DIMMU BORGIR and Adam "Nergal" Darski of Polish extreme metallers BEHEMOTH, who are currently on the road in Europe as part of the "In League With Satan" co-headline tour, were asked if they have ever felt pressure to "compromise a little bit" with their music in order to reach a wider audience more quickly. Silenoz responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Never. And I think it's also good that it took a little bit of time to go the steps [and grow the band], because you look at artists that get big overnight for whatever reason. This music is not meant to be for the masses anyway. Metal in general is not. You look at [IRON] MAIDEN and [JUDAS] PRIEST and all the big ones, still they're not played on mainstream radio. So I think it's good that it is the way it is, with our kind of music and metal in general."

Added Nergal: "All I gotta say is that, just look at [BEHEMOTH's] last album's title ['The Shit Ov God']. And that says it all. That's how unapologetic I've always been and how much I cared about what other people think of what I do. I actually reach out to have this title, because I knew there's no bigger middle finger out there. And I know it's gonna be so talked about. Then I'm, like, 'Okay, this is it.' And so that says how uncompromising I can be. No matter if people like it or not, or they think it's stupid, it's this or that, I know what it is. And I stand behind it, period."

After the interviewer noted that a lot of people love DIMMU BORGIR and BEHEMOTH, but that both bands also have a lot of haters who regularly voice their negative opinions on the Internet, Nergal said: "Well, someone way smarter than me said, 'Hey, if I'm gonna pay attention to every dog barking at me, I would never make it home.' That's exactly how I feel about it. Plus, the other way smarter guy — I believe it was one of the great poets — said like, well, basically if you [attract] very polarized opinions on your body of work, your body of art, on a creation, it basically proves your honesty. And that's exactly what it is. You can't make a record or make a painting expecting, 'Oh, I hope that everyone will love it.' Of course, it's cool if there is more people enjoying what I do, because I wanna go on tour and I don't wanna play to empty places. And fortunately, for me, there's probably... I'm not gonna guess, there's 70/30 or 60/40, but judging by the numbers attending on this tour, I think we both must be doing something right. But also these days, it's, like whenever they say there's so much like criticism and hate, whenever they ask me, 'Okay, so how much of that hate you meet on daily basis?' None. Because people are only brave behind their keyboards. They never approach you saying, 'Oh, you fucking sellout,' or, 'You wimp.' They never do that. So if you don't have balls to come and say things like [that] in my face, you can basically fuck off."

Silenoz concurred, saying: "Simple as that. And another thing too, which is indifference. What's the fun about that? You want people either loving you or hating you. That's how you know that you're doing something right. And we are here; they're not. So, [that] speaks for itself."

BEHEMOTH's ascent from the Polish underground to the upper echelons of the international album charts is one of extreme metal's most remarkable stories. With virtually every major release over the past two decades, the band has broken new ground commercially — without ever compromising a single note of their uncompromising vision.

"The Apostasy" (2007) marked the band's first-ever entry on the U.S. Billboard 200, debuting at No. 149 — a landmark moment that signaled the arrival of a new global force in extreme metal. "Evangelion" (2009) raised the bar further, debuting at No. 56 on the Billboard 200 and making it clear that BEHEMOTH's fanbase was growing at an extraordinary rate. "The Satanist" (2014) shattered all expectations. Debuting at No. 34 on the Billboard 200, it became the highest-charting black or death metal album in the chart's history at that time — a record-breaking achievement that sent shockwaves through the industry. The album simultaneously debuted at No. 1 in Poland on the OLIS chart, the band's home country — cementing BEHEMOTH as a mainstream cultural phenomenon as much as an underground institution. Nergal himself called it "unheard of" and noted that no black or death metal artist had ever reached a higher Billboard position. "I Loved You At Your Darkest" (2018) continued the momentum, debuting at No. 85 on the Billboard 200. In Poland, the album again dominated, reaching No. 1 on the vinyl chart and No. 4 overall. The album also charted highly across Germany, Sweden, the UK, Australia and beyond. "Opvs Contra Natvram" (2022) saw BEHEMOTH chart once more across multiple territories, including a Top 20 entry on the U.K. official albums chart (No. 19),further cementing their position as one of the most commercially viable extreme metal acts in the world.

DIMMU BORGIR is touring in support of its new album, "Grand Serpent Rising", which arrived in May via Nuclear Blast Records.

"Grand Serpent Rising" was recorded in Gothenburg with acclaimed producer Fredrik Nordström, whose legacy with the band includes landmark releases "Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia" and "Death Cult Armageddon". The collaboration once again captures the band at their most expansive and ferocious, blending orchestral grandeur with unrelenting black metal intensity.

In June 2025, DIMMU BORGIR announced Kjell Åge "Damage" Karlsen as the band's new guitarist. Karlsen, who previously played with DIMMU BORGIR frontman Shagrath in the long-running Norwegian rock act CHROME DIVISION, made his live debut with DIMMU BORGIR on June 27, 2025 at the Tons Of Rock festival in Oslo, Norway.

Longtime DIMMU BORGIR guitarist Galder (real name Thomas Rune Andersen) announced his departure from the band in the summer of 2024, explaining that he wanted to reactivate his OLD MAN'S CHILD project.

Galder played his final concert with DIMMU BORGIR on August 17, 2024 as the headliner of the main stage at Dynamo Metal Fest in Eindhoven, The Netherlands.