Beherit (band)
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Beherit is a Finnish
black metal Black metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include Tempo#Beats per minute, fast tempos, a Screaming (music)#Black metal, shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted Electric guitar, guitars played with tr ...
band from
Rovaniemi Rovaniemi ( , ; ; ; ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Lapland (Finland), Lapland. It is located near the Arctic Circle in the northern interior of the country. The population of Rovaniemi is approximately , while the Rovaniemi su ...
. The band was formed in 1989 by Nuclear Holocausto Vengeance (Marko Laiho), Demonic Fornication (Jari Vaarala) and Sodomatic Slaughter (Jari Pirinen), with the purpose of performing "the most primitive, savage, hell-obsessed black metal imaginable". "Beherit" is claimed to be the Syriac word for
Satan Satan, also known as the Devil, is a devilish entity in Abrahamic religions who seduces humans into sin (or falsehood). In Judaism, Satan is seen as an agent subservient to God, typically regarded as a metaphor for the '' yetzer hara'', or ' ...
. Through the uncommercial nature of their music, visuals, and live performances, the band quickly attracted a
cult following A cult following is a group of fans who are highly dedicated to a person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The latter is often called a cult classic. A film, boo ...
. Besides the "raw" sound, the band's music is noted for its
avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...
side and emphasis on atmosphere. Beherit are now regarded as a pioneer in their genre. As a full band, Beherit released one full-length album and many demos and compilations of raw and minimalistic black metal. They disbanded soon after the release of the experimental 1993 album '' Drawing Down the Moon'', which is now considered a classic of the genre. Laiho, the group's frontman, continued as a solo project and released two more albums under the band's name, '' H418ov21.C'' in 1994 and '' Electric Doom Synthesis'' in 1995. These albums are usually categorized as
dark ambient Dark ambient (referred to as ambient industrial especially in the 1980s) is a genre of post-industrial musicReed, Alexander: ''Assimilate: A Critical History of Industrial Music'', Oxford University Press, 2013, , p. 190 that features an ominous, ...
. Although they were completely electronic, the albums carried the atmosphere of the band's black metal recordings. Original members Nuclear Holocausto and Sodomatic Slaughter reformed the band in 2008, now a four-piece featuring new members Ancient Corpse Desekrator and Abyss.


History


Early days (1989–1990)

Beherit was formed in 1989 by three young musicians from
Rovaniemi Rovaniemi ( , ; ; ; ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Lapland (Finland), Lapland. It is located near the Arctic Circle in the northern interior of the country. The population of Rovaniemi is approximately , while the Rovaniemi su ...
, Lapland; vocalist and guitarist Nuclear Holocausto Vengeance (Marko Laiho), bassist Daemon Fornication and drummer Sodomatic Slaughter (Jari Pirinen). The band released three demos the following year—''Seventh Blasphemy'', ''Morbid Rehearsals'', and ''Demonomancy''—and also gathered reputation for their live shows, which included pig heads and goats on stage.


''The Oath of Black Blood'' (1991–1992)

Beherit's compilation album, '' The Oath of Black Blood'', includes material recorded from June to September 1990. The album was released in 1991. The album is traditional, fast, and brutal old school black metal, heavily influenced by
death metal Death metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep death growl, growling vocals; aggressive ...
,
thrash metal Thrash metal (or simply thrash) is an Extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by its overall aggression and fast tempo.Kahn-Harris, Keith, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'', pp. 2–3, 9. Oxford: Berg, ...
, and
grindcore Grindcore is an extreme metal, extreme fusion genre of heavy metal music, heavy metal and hardcore punk that originated in the mid-1980s, drawing inspiration from abrasive-sounding musical styles, such as thrashcore, crust punk, hardcore punk, e ...
. However, it is not a separately recorded studio album. The band got some funding for recording an album from their record label at the time, Turbo Music, but supposedly spent the money on alcohol. The label then released their demo ''Demonomancy'' and 7-inch EP ''Dawn of Satan's Millennium'' as a compilation, without the band's permission, and named it ''The Oath of Black Blood'', which was originally supposed to be the name of the new album. Laiho commented on the album in an early 1992 interview for ''
Metal Hammer ''Metal Hammer'' is a heavy metal music magazine and website founded in 1983, published in the United Kingdom by Future, with other language editions published by different companies available in numerous other countries. ''Metal Hammer'' featu ...
'' magazine:
"I hate the album! It's so bad, we never wanted to release it. The songs are from our 'Demonomancy' demo and our label Turbo Music just used a regular cassette for the album pressing. Honestly, I never sent them the master tape... We're planning to release a proper LP soon, this time on my own label. The result should be much better."
The album is now generally regarded as a full-length release.
Spinefarm Records Spinefarm Records is an international record label. Founded in Finland in 1990, Spinefarm was acquired by Universal Music Group in 2002. History Spinefarm Records began as a mailorder distribution company, founded by Riku Pääkkönen. The c ...
re-issued it in 2005, and
Season of Mist Season of Mist is an independent record label and record distributor with subsidiaries in France and the United States. The record label was founded in 1996 by Michael S. Berberian in Marseille, France. From the start releasing black metal, pa ...
in 2006. In 1991, the band members briefly performed under the name, The Lord Diabolus, from which a single demo tape was made and released independently before the band returned to working under the name Beherit. The songs "Intro (Tireheb)" and "Nocturnal Evil" were later re-released as Beherit songs.


''Drawing Down the Moon'' (1993)

Beherit's best-known and most influential album, '' Drawing Down the Moon'', was recorded between April and August in 1992. It was released in 1993 as the band's first official LP. The album was named after a Wiccan ritual, " drawing down the Moon". The album was highly experimental within the black metal scene, as the band used whispers and space-like electronic and synth sounds to strengthen its hypnotic atmosphere. ''Drawing Down the Moon'' was reissued by
Candlelight Records Candlelight Records is a British record label based in London, founded by former Extreme Noise Terror bass guitarist Lee Barrett in 1993. The record label originally specialized in black metal, but quickly expanded to various other forms of hea ...
in 2006.


Ambient era (1994–1996)

Despite the album's success, ''Drawing Down the Moon'' was to remain the band's last black metal release, as they split up the next year. Laiho still recorded two albums of
dark ambient Dark ambient (referred to as ambient industrial especially in the 1980s) is a genre of post-industrial musicReed, Alexander: ''Assimilate: A Critical History of Industrial Music'', Oxford University Press, 2013, , p. 190 that features an ominous, ...
music, '' H418ov21.C'' and '' Electric Doom Synthesis'', and released them under the band's name. As the band did not reform and Laiho had eventually lost interest in black metal, he went on to continue his musical career in dark ambient as Suuri Shamaani and in
hardcore techno Hardcore (also known as hardcore techno) is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany in the early 1990s. It is distinguished by faster tempos (160 to 200 BPM or more) and a distorted sawtooth ...
as DJ Gamma-G.


Return to black metal, ''Engram'' (2009)

Beherit was reformed in 2008, with original members Nuclear Holocausto (having returned to Finland from Thailand) and Sodomatic Slaughter, and newcomers Ancient Corpse Desekrator and Abyss. The new album is a return to the black metal genre, and also marks Beherit's return to a full band configuration after existing as a solo project from 1994 until its disbandment in 1996. The album, entitled '' Engram'', is the band's third black metal album (fifth overall) and first in 14 years. A sixth album, ''Bardo Exist'', was released in 2020. This album marked a return to the black ambient style.


Conflicts

Beherit were one of the first second-wave black metal bands. In the early 1990s, due to Beherit and groups such as Impaled Nazarene and Barathrum, the Finnish scene was becoming more and more recognized. This eventually resulted in a Norwegian-Finnish conflict often named the "Dark War". According to ''Isten'' fanzine's obviously satirical article, the conflict originated from several misunderstandings and practical jokes, involving Laiho, but
Mika Luttinen Mika Kristian Luttinen is a Finnish vocalist who formed the black metal band Impaled Nazarene in 1990. After numerous line-up changes, he remains the only original member. Besides his main project, Mika has been involved in various other bands ...
of Impaled Nazarene believed he received
death threats A death threat is a threat, often made Anonymity, anonymously, by one person or a group of people to kill another person or group of people. These threats are often designed to intimidate victims in order to Psychological manipulation, manipulat ...
in Norwegian. His band's first album had a statement saying "no orders from Norway accepted", which Luttinen later admitted being stupid and childish. Laiho commented on the conflict in an interview for January 1994 issue of ''Masters of Brutality'' magazine:
"When we started the band about 4 years ago we knew this and so that's okay. Now there are more people against us ‘cause of these new rules and all these stupid rumours spread by our Norwegian enemies... but I don’t care so much. But that’s a bit sad that the black metal underground scene is totally split."


Band members


Current members

* Nuclear Holocausto (Marko Laiho of Black Crucifixion) –
vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...
,
guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...
s, keyboards, programming (1989–1996, 2008–present) * Sodomatic Slaughter (Jari Pirinen of Black Crucifixion) –
drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...
(1989–1991, 2008–present) * Ancient Corpse Desekrator (Sami Tenetz) ( Thy Serpent) – guitars (2008–present) * Abyss (Pasi Kolehmainen) –
bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...
(2008–present)


Former members

* Black Jesus (Santtu Siippainen) (ex. Coffin) – bass (1991-1992) * Daemon Fornication/Demon Fornication (Jari Vaarala) – bass (1989-1990) * Kimmo Luttinen (of Catamenia, Impaled Nazarene, The Black League) – drums * Necroperversor (Pekka Virkanen) (ex. Coffin) – drums (1991-1992)


Discography


Albums

*'' Drawing Down the Moon'' (1993) *'' H418ov21.C'' (1994) *'' Electric Doom Synthesis'' (1995) *'' Engram'' (2009) *'' At the Devil's Studio 1990'' (2011) *'' Bardo Exist'' (2020) *'' WBRRR'' (2023)


Compilations

*'' The Oath of Black Blood'' (1991) *''Beast of Beherit - Complete Worxxx'' (1999)


EPs and demos

*''Seventh Blasphemy'' (1990) *''Morbid Rehearsals'' (1990) *''Demonomancy'' (1990) *''Dawn of Satan's Millennium'' (1990) *''Diabolus Down There'' (alternately, ''Down There...'', released under the band name The Lord Diabolus, 1991) *''Unreleased Studio Tracks'' (1991) *''Promo 1992'' (1992) *''Messe des morts'' (1994) *''Celebrate the Dead'' (2012)


Splits

*''Beherit / Death Yell'' (1991) *''Messe des morts / Angel Cunt'' (1999) (with Archgoat)


References


External links


Beherit
at
Spinefarm Records Spinefarm Records is an international record label. Founded in Finland in 1990, Spinefarm was acquired by Universal Music Group in 2002. History Spinefarm Records began as a mailorder distribution company, founded by Riku Pääkkönen. The c ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beherit Dark ambient music groups Finnish black metal musical groups Finnish musical quartets Musical groups established in 1989 Musical groups disestablished in 1996 Musical groups reestablished in 2008 Candlelight Records artists Spinefarm Records artists