Seven months after the release of Behemoth‘s latest studio album, The S**t Ov God, frontman Adam “Nergal” Darski is still fielding questions about its abrasive title. In a new interview with Australia’s Heavy, the blackened death metal vocalist pushed back against critics who dismissed the name as a cheap stunt, arguing that the choice was a calculated artistic move designed to disrupt expectations and “zero” the band’s creative trajectory.
When asked about the difficulty of maintaining a fresh creative output after decades in the industry, Nergal admitted that the pressure only intensifies with time. He cited heavy metal giants Metallica and Judas Priest as examples of how even the most legendary acts grapple with their own standards.
“Obviously, it’s more and more demanding, more challenging,” Nergal explained (as transcribed by Blabbermouth). “But then who we are to say that. Just take [Judas] Priest or Metallica, how much of a task it is for those bands to come up with something that’s gonna be… I mean, [Metallica‘s] James Hetfield, he openly talks about it now. [Metallica‘s] Black Album was that, and then ever since it’s a struggle. And ‘I’ve never been entirely’ — that’s what he said — ‘I’ve never been entirely happy with what we do.’ And he said that. So, trust me, it’s not an easy task. And just take, for instance, Judas Priest. But Judas Priest, last record is f**king amazing. The one before, Firepower, was f**king amazing. So I look up to those bands and I’m, like, ‘You know what? They still can do it. If they can do it, I can do it.’ But it’s not easy. It’s far from that. That’s why sometimes I have to zero myself.”
This concept of “zeroing” himself was central to the decision to name the new record The S**t Ov God. Nergal expressed frustration with fans who viewed the title as a regression rather than a deliberate stylistic pivot.
“Some people get it, some people didn’t get that,” he said. “When I gave our latest record that title, they were, like, ‘Uh, Nergal, you can do better than this.’ No, I can’t do better. This is the best I can give you. This is the best I can give you. And if you don’t wanna look into that and just see it’s not just a primitive slogan or simple or whatever, it’s something way more than just provocative title. It’s something way more than that. And you just need to dig into that. It’s not a stupid title.”
He challenged listeners to look beyond the surface level shock value and engage with the lyrical content.
“Just get the record, read the lyrics,” Nergal urged. “It’s not a stupid title. And it makes sense. You just need to make an effort as a fan to digest that, to process that and eventually understand that. But it’s up to you. I did my work. Now it’s up to you. And I know it’s a challenging title and it’s a challenging record, and it’s not some Satanic chitchats. There’s never been. It’s a very challenging, very demanding album with the title that you may think, ‘Oh, there’s something wrong with those dudes. They didn’t come up with something complex and philosophical.’ And it’s more philosophical than you think it is.”
Nergal elaborated that the title was necessary to break the pattern of increasingly lofty and academic names the band had used on previous records, such as Opvs Contra Natvram. By choosing something blunt, he aimed to catch the audience off guard.
“But with [The S**t Ov God] album title, I kind of zeroed myself, because I remember thinking, ‘F**king hell.’ I stole this Opvs Contra Natvram title from [psychiatrist Carl] Jung, but who knows who Jung is? And then I stole I Loved You At Your Darkest from the Bible… It’s inspired by the Bible. And I thought it’s a beautiful title, yet people were bitching about it. But I thought there’s so much depth there, and let me explain you. But they’re, like, ‘You can’t top The Satanist.’ The Satanist, that kind of title is one in the world, one in a lifetime. And there’s one Evangelion and one The Apostasy. I mean, trying to top that, you’ll fail. You must do something completely opposite that’s gonna just get people off the guard, like, boom. And they’re, like, ‘What the f**k is that?’ And that’s what The S**t Ov God is.”
Ultimately, the vocalist sees this unpredictability as the core of Behemoth‘s identity.
“So now when I zeroed myself, if you know what I’m trying to explain, now I can again build something way more sophisticated and complex, just to build the dynamics,” he concluded. “If you analyze Behemoth‘s album titles — The Satanist, then I Loved You At Your Darkest — something completely different, the dynamics. It goes somewhere else. And then the Latin title that I stole from Jung, Opvs Contra Natvram. And then The S**t Ov God. It’s, like, you have four album titles that are completely different. And that’s what makes it cool, at least for me. Every one [of them] is different, and I’m not doing those to make you like them. I’m doing those to f**king confuse you. That is my main goal — to confuse the f**k out of people. And I succeeded.”
The S**t Ov God was released on May 9, 2025, via Nuclear Blast Records.
