• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5

I was a little apprehensive approaching this book since it is a biography written in interview form. That had the potential to suck. Good news: it doesn't. This was done over the course of several months in settings ranging from a sit-down to taking walks.

Behemoth is pretty well known in the metal world by now and especially mainman Nergal who has been around the block a few times and took a detour to beat the crap out of leukaemia. In Poland, it sounds like he can't go anywhere without being recognized for a variety of reasons that include being on The Voice of Poland and also dating a pop star for a while.

It took a few pages before I got comfortable with the interview format of the book, but this quickly turned into a page-turner. Tons of subjects are covered: His youth, his musical career, the band, his love interests, his participation as a judge on The Voice of Poland, the hurdles of dating a pop star, his fight with leukaemia, and his thoughts on random subject that came up while discussion the main topics. The book really feels like a very long conversation even though it was done over the course of several months. The interviewer doesn't hold back, sometimes asking some daring questions. I don't know if he was trying to provoke Nergal, but there were a few times where I thought, "Why doesn't he punch him in the fucking face?"

Confession of a Heretic is really about Nergal and not so much Behemoth, though you'll find tons of interesting facts about the band in here. The takeaway is that Nergal comes off as a very intelligent and educated guy who takes life as it is and doesn't waste time looking back with "what ifs". I found a lot of his views and comments to be quite inspiring throughout the book though, unsurprisingly, a few times I asked myself what the hell he was going on about. ;) The book ends a little abruptly, but given the format I guess there was no other way to end it. I think this is a book worth reading even if you're not at all into a Behemoth as it is about so much more than some guy in an extreme metal band. Highly recommended.