#20: Nergal (Behemoth)
MetalSucks recently polled its staff to determine who are The Top 25 Modern Metal Frontmen, and after an incredible amount of arguing, name calling, and physical violence, we have finalized that list! Writers were asked to consider vocal ability, lyrics, and live presence when casting their votes; the only requirements to be eligible for the list were that the musician in question had to a) play metal (duh), b) be a frontman or woman (double-duh), and c) have recorded something AND performed live in the past five years. Today we continue our countdown with Behemoth’s Adam “Nergal” Darski …
Some are threatened by Adam “Nergal” Darski, frontman of Behemoth. For example, there’s that religious guy who keeps engineering legal hassles for Nergal in his native Poland? To that silly spaz, Nergal’s views — and the compelling expressions thereof — like, endanger his whole identity, his belief system, and order in his whole country. What a pussy.
Still, non-pussies can empathize: Nergal is special, and he is intense. So if he trains his weapons on you, there will be impact. Cuz look he’s great at everything: His music is awesome, for which he sings, writes, and guitars. His whole vibe is wild, a timeless prophet of destruction dressed like an extra from a hi-tech production of Tosca. His education qualifies him for the curatorship of a museum, while his profile landed him a gig on a primetime talent show. And oh speaking of profile, Nergal’s got even bigger once he bagged one of Poland’s most desired women and then like beat the cancer that had penetrated his bones. Nergal 1, Death 0.
That’s why it gives you pause to, oh I dunno, see him dressed as a Nazi (if real, it would spell mankind’s end). That’s why even bimbos like me kinda behave in his backstage (his glare would desiccate a spiller of bongwater). That’s why his arcane, face-singeing blackened-death metal band can drive a headline tour (see above). Nergal lives the life to back his words. And he brings it onstage — the past, present, and future of his existence in shorthand over 90 minutes and at top volume. Without that, a frontman is just painting by numbers, just performing a series of tasks that comprise his job description. Without that, a frontman is less metal, less real, and not at all superhuman. With that, Nergal is a threat!
THE LIST SO FAR:
#21: Jens Kidman (Meshuggah)
#22: J.R. Hayes (Pig Destroyer)
#23: Jamey Jasta (Hatebreed)
#24: Travis Ryan (Cattle Decapitation, Murder Construct)
#25: Chino Moreno (Deftones)
