Earlier this month, Behemoth bandleader Adam Nergal Darski unleashed "Ride With the Devil," the rollicking new single and accompanying music video from his nefarious Nick Cave–ian side project Me and That Man, both of which featured Jørgen Munkeby of Norwegian blackjazz collective Shining. Today (December 20th), Nergal is back with another audiovisual package, "Burning Churches," and another guest star, this time Mat McNerney of the Finnish death-rock group and Revolver favorites Grave Pleasures.
As the song's title suggests, it's a highly anti-religious ode that nods to the infamous black-metal church-burnings of Nineties Norway. Its accompanying video, directed and animated by Oliver Jones of Better Feeling Films, takes the tune's message next level, telling the grim yet triumphant tale of a young boy who was abused by a priest in childhood and grows up to become a satanic superhero of sorts, dead-set on enacting vengeance against the church. For Nergal, the single and its visual make for a perfect holiday offering.
"If someone would have told me one day, I'd release a Xmas song, I would have burst into laughter," he commented. "Hell freezes over and I present to you, 'Burning Churches.' This time I team up with Mat McNerney from the legendary Beastmilk, Grave Pleasures, DHG and Hexvessel. Make yourself comfortable around the Christmas tree, stoke the fire and grab yourself a drink! Hallelujah."
