During a recent interview with Rock Sverige, Nergal spoke to Behemoth’s upcoming new album, Opvs Contra Natvram, as well as a variety of other subjects. Among those subjects, Nergal was asked if he felt successful in sparking a flame of rebellion in people.
It is no secret that, through Behemoth, Nergal has been incredibly outspoken about his socio-political beliefs. He has been vocal about the institutions that upset him and continuously has made efforts to call out matters he sees as alarming. To this question, Nergal provides a lengthy answer, in part sharing: “I’m very sensitive to all these threats to our freedom and there’s a lot of threats coming from religious and state agendas.”
This is everything the Behemoth singer had to say:
“Yes. I mean, I use music… don’t get me wrong, Behemoth is not a political band, but then again, everything is political these days, if you want it or not. I will use this platform to speak about things that I think are important and they need a shout out. Let’s say… we just toured the US two months ago and we’re in Europe and we’re at fucking Download with 60.000 people and I go in front of these people and I just shout out to the Ukraine because I think it’s important to do it and I think it’s the righteous thing to do. When I talk between songs and I have a chance to speak about freedom of speech and limitations and overcoming limitations and fighting with any kind of repression, I always try to make a statement and a shout out to women’s rights, because all these abortion laws they impose on us. I’m from Poland and we’re fucked when it comes to abortion laws and now what has just happened in the US, it’s the same story.
“I’m very sensitive to all these threats to our freedom and there’s a lot of threats coming from religious and state agendas. All kinds of stuff… Behemoth …I mean, like a lot of people, and rightfully, they’ll go see Behemoth being this anti-religious band and yes we are and a bigger part of that is very centered around religion, but we are this and beyond. I think Behemoth becomes way more universal just standing against a lot of restrictions that are being imposed on us. Especially this weird, dangerous fucking unstable world status that we’re hovering in these days. I think you can relate to a lot of things in that and you can relate to a lot of what is happening with Behemoth as well.”
What do you make of Nergal’s political stances and his efforts to speak to audiences at shows? Recently, Nergal has spoken to what he doesn’t like about cancel culture, as well as his social media habits. Links to both stories can be found below.
‘What I hate about today’s world’: Nergal Talks Cancel Culture
‘F*** my brain’: Behemoth’s Nergal Speaks To His Social Media Habits + Desires