Me and that Man are Behemoth frontman, Nergal, and John Porter. It’s a radical new sound for Nergal – gone is the heavy black/death metal, and instead you have Nergal doing vocals and John Porter playing guitar (often acoustic) and doing backing vocals, and there’s even Harmonica used. It’s a very different musical style too, which I’d describe as a blend of alt-country, Blues, Rock and roll and Folk. Fear not though, as there is still the darkness you associate with Nergal – check out this bit of lyrics from opening song, “My church is black”…
My church is black
My Christ is cold
My cross is pale
Hell is my home
It’s quite hard to describe the music, especially to people who don’t know what Alt-Country is, and to be fair it’s a fairly diverse genre, so what I’d say is that this isnt what you tend to think of when someone says Country – it’s nothing like Garth Brooks for example, and sometimes feels more like Leonard Cohen. It’s more what you’d expect Quentin Tarantino to use in a movie. Have a listen to “My church is black” and hear it for yourself..
“Cross my heart and hope to die” is the second video to be released from the album, Like the first video it’s got a long intro before the song starts, so bear with it – the wait is definitely worth it
It’s an album that Behemoth fans may or may not like. For some it’s going to be too radical a change away from Behemoth, but others who give it a fair listen are likely to find the dark elements link the two bands together, and find the album strangely compelling. Personally I absolutely love it. It’s beautifully written and covers such a range of influences with some songs being deceptively simple while others are more intricate. There’s a real 50s rock and roll feel to the guitar sound at times, yet at other times you get more of the alt-country or folk feel. The vocals are great too – Nergal really does sound good here, whether it’s the slow mournful parts or the more rock and roll parts.
I’m very happy to say that this is an album that totally exceeded my expectations. If you watch the videos and enjoy them then you really should buy this album.
Track listing:
1. My church is black
2. Nightride
3. On the road
4. Cross my heart and hope to die
5. Better the devil I know
6. Of sirens, vampires and lovers
7. Magdalene
8. Love & death
9. One day
10. Shaman blues
11. Voodoo queen
12. Get outta this place
13. Ain’t much loving
- 15.63