Review by Jeger on August 11, 2024.

Long before Nergal became the champion of Polish liberation from Catholicism and a gambler with his freedom, his band Behemoth began much like every other black metal band; with some shoddy recording, some remedial guitar riffing, and more than just an affinity for Satan. Their early recordings? Not “The Satanist”, not brutal nor refined, and not larger-than-life like we’ve come to expect over the decades, just genuine black metal a la Darkthrone, Mayhem, and Marduk. And into dreaming forests of ancient times we venture now under blood moon and beneath His austere gaze - spellbound by the chilling yowl of great daemons through the solstice gale and wolves running the hunt. True black metal done the Polish way. In 1995, the now intergalactic Behemoth released a very humble piece of BM gold in their And The Forests Dream Eternally EP, unveiled via Entropy Productions. 

I have the attention span of a four-year-old, so I dig EPs and not the bullshit ones that feature a cover, a live track, and some B-side deep cut that no one gives a shit about. “And the Forests Dream Eternally” followed Behemoth’s debut LP, and what an unsung triumph for second-wave black metal. Through the myst of intoxicatingly melodic passages are propelled upon finesse beats and crisp splashes of the cymbal. Scarce are blast-beats and no tremolo riffs, only rolling Dissection-like melodic progressions that unfold to the same kind of Ole Öhman-esque disciplined cadences - the glue and the foundation to the filth but also to the majestic as the highly visual “Transylvanian Forest” opens up the experience to the sound of vultures mingling as they tear through their prized carrion just before the dry buzz and the basement stink of crusty Polish BM ensues. A brilliant alternation between black & roll grime and rich melodicism. Nowhere to be found is anything that actually sounds like today’s Behemoth. 

I would’ve guessed Finland. Sounds like a cross between the misanthropic melancholy of Sargeist and the sonic warmongering of one Satanic Warmaster. Naturally, this EP could’ve served as an inspiration to said projects, as it most certainly has for countless others, and as bands like Funeral Winds and even Sacramentum come to mind during the enrapturing “Moonspell Rites”, it’s to Nergal’s wraith-like growl - a beautiful contrast to the brutishness of his current style. The mystery behind the great transition between this undisputed BM reign and what this band eventually became is one that both frustrates and tantalizes. Frustrating to the black metal warrior but a vast leap forward for the blackened death monger. I definitely fall into the former category. Why Behemoth steered away from the heartfelt and downright stunning nature of such blessed black metal and into the realm of aggressive brutalism is beyond me. They were onto something here and was it ever glorious. Behemoth have explored more soulful tones, particularly through their polarizing “I Loved You At Your Darkest” LP, but never again through the most precious dark art of black metal. 

A comprehensive recording that sees the band venturing into the realm of Venom worship during “Pure Evil and Hate” and into the dreamlike sphere of melodic BM as so strikingly lain out during the closing track, “Forgotten Empire of Dark WItchcraft” - like a “Storm of the Light’s Bane” deep cut that strikes up those olde familiar images of beguiled angels lying frozen in Winter’s frigid bounty; black metal for the Witch as she enchants The Devil before her with ancestral spells of ancient days forlorn. And the music: a blackened feast of grime, melody, epic, occult, and misanthropy - A little BM 101 as professed by black metal’s own wayward son. 

An international powerhouse of blackened metal has Behemoth become since the turn of the millennium, and the music is only secondary to the great blasphemous works of one Adam “Nergal” Darski - the one who challenges and who condemns Christian totalitarianism over Poland, all the while as he creates some of the world’s most influential blackened death metal. “And the Forests Dream Eternally” has aged as beautifully as Thunderbolt’s “Black Clouds Over Dark Majesty” and speaks to a time before revolution when under the Black Mark did Adam staked his claim. Simpler days, simpler music, but Behemoth would prove to be something a little too, well, behemoth for black metal. So, on they’ve stormed the blackened horizons; challenging divinity and trampling Christendom under their boots. I generally despise blackened death metal, so I’ll just pump the brakes right here and leave this little gem at your disposal. To dream eternally! And to the forests… A solitary chair there sits, one that signifies the spot once held by Behemoth in what was their briefly sanctioned, undisputed place within the world of Polish black metal…

Rating: 9.5/10