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Jawbone Press - Adam Nergal Darski

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191 pages

English

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“REBELLION IS A PART OF YOUTH. SOMETIMES IT’S DANGEROUS. INSTEAD OF A SWORD, I HOLD A GUITAR IN MY HANDS. I’M IN THE SAME, RIGID WORLD, BUT INSTEAD OF MOLOTOV COCKTAILS, I’VE GOT A COMPUTER. IT’S A MUCH MORE POWERFUL WEAPON.”

Confessions Of A Heretic is the forthright and erudite memoir of Adam Nergal Darski, the frontman and driving force behind the Polish extreme metal group Behemoth, currently at the top of their game following the release of their 2014 US Top 40 album The Satanist.

Presented as a series of interrogations by friends and associates, and with a foreword by Lamb Of God frontman D. Randall Blythe, the book reveals a complex man of great contrast—a health-conscious, highly personable intellectual known for his extreme views and even more extreme music—lifting the lid on everything from his clashes with the Polish Catholic Church to appearing as a judge on the Polish version of The Voice to his battle with leukaemia.

Sujets

Musique

Culture musicale

Histoire de la musique

Catholicisme

Music

Genres

Styles

Heavy Metal

Informations

Publié par	Jawbone Press
Date de parution	31 mars 2015
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781908279767
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	1 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0000€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

Confessions Of A Heretic
The Sacred And The Profane
Behemoth And Beyond
Adam Nergal Darski with Mark Eglinton
and Krzysztof Azarewicz & Piotr Weltrowski

A Jawbone ebook
First edition 2015

Jawbone Press
2a Union Court,
20–22 Union Road,
London SW4 6JP,
England
www.jawbonepress.com

Volume copyright © 2015 Outline Press Ltd. Text copyright © Adam Nergal Darski. All rights reserved. No part of this book covered by the copyrights hereon may be reproduced or copied in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in articles or reviews where the source should be made clear. For more information contact the publishers.

Edited by Tom Seabrook
Cover design by Maciej Szymanowicz
Cover and intro images by Ivo Ledwożyw
CONTENTS

Introduction by Krzysztof Azarewicz & Piotr Weltrowski

About This Edition by Mark Eglinton

Foreword by D. Randall Blythe

Chapter I I am your blind fate, who delivered you from the land of high-rise blocks

Chapter II There is no smoke without fire

Chapter III Tree of Life

Chapter IV And then the Lord put the sheep to his right and the goats to his left

Chapter V A reindeer, two owls, and a dead man

Chapter VI A dream about Warsaw

Chapter VII This is my body and this is my bone marrow

Chapter VIII The cold war

Chapter IX The vision and The Voice

Chapter X Weapons of mass destruction

Chapter XI Our earthly Eden

Chapter XII Out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery

Chapter XIII What lives will not die

Photographs
INTRODUCTION
By Krzysztof Azarewicz & Piotr Weltrowski

The book you are holding in your hands took over six months to complete. It is, however, the result of a long-standing friendship between Nergal and us. During the interviews, we always tried to capture Nergal in his natural habitat and to present him in the way we know him to be in everyday life.
For the purposes of this book, we engaged in over a hundred conversations. These took place in various places: our houses; during long walks by the Baltic Sea or Old Town part of Krakow; in many restaurants in London; and during Behemoth’s tours. Various emotions accompanied our conversations, which sometimes took the form of a lazy and long chitchat over a cup of coffee. Occasionally we turned the Dictaphone on impulsively, just to record one or two sentences, and then there were other occasions when Nergal didn’t even realise we had been recording the conversation at all …
Throughout the process of preparing Confessions Of A Heretic , however, we always did our best to ensure that our own views and opinions would not cast a shadow on what Nergal had to say. In fact, oftentimes we assumed a position that was directly opposite to his view of the world—the sole aim being to provoke him into speaking his mind. As a result, we often felt that working on the book was a test of our friendship. Regardless, we always did our best to keep the conversations honest and uncompromising. There were jokes, smiles, guitar playing, but also serious stares and even some tears.
We hope that this emotional kaleidoscope inspires your own reflections and gives your worldview a bit more colour.
ABOUT THIS EDITION
By Mark Eglinton

The English edition of this book came about by pure chance. Of course—as a fan of Nergal and his music—I’d been aware of his illness and also the existence of the Polish edition, published in late 2012, but what I didn’t fully appreciate at that time was the strength and depth of character that lay behind what was, frankly, a very intimidating public persona. Personas can be misleading, however, and in dealing with adversity, Nergal displayed a humanity that surprised anyone who might have been quick to judge someone whose lyrical stances are considered extreme, to put it mildly.
Let’s face it, though: whether you’re a fan of Behemoth or not, Nergal’s story and approach to life generally—not just those aspects that deal with him overcoming life-threatening illness—surely deserve to be read and enjoyed in all languages. So, with that in mind, I sent the man an email asking if, by chance, he needed help to bring an English edition to life. I was surprised to receive a response within thirty seconds. ‘Let’s do it,’ he said.
Confessions Of A Heretic is the result. It should be said straightaway that this edition does differ in some ways—most of them subtle—from the original, Polish equivalent. What we had to work with was a raw translation, painstakingly undertaken by Piotrek Niesluchowski. It was good, and brutally accurate, but my feeling was that—in order to really capture the imagination of a potentially large English speaking audience—the text needed to be edited, enhanced, and generally moulded to fit its new purpose. The core meaning was never altered, and the often-raw nature of the dialogue was also preserved, but in the process of anglification , for want of a better word, a few inevitable departures from the Polish version were necessary—all of which make this an extremely engaging book. What mattered most to me was that Nergal’s unique voice shone through, regardless of language. As someone who captures voice—from all walks of life—as my day-to-day job, it was vital that this extraordinary man’s character was preserved for all to read.
FOREWORD
By D. Randall Blythe

Adam Nergal Darski is a survivor. But as most people in civilized countries never face any real life-threatening situations (and survival is, after all, the primary human instinct) that overused term of respect doesn’t really hold much weight with me these days. It doesn’t say much about the man, other than the fact that—as of this writing—he is alive, but so are approximately seven billion other humans on the planet. Big fucking deal .
All humans—unless they are mentally ill or suicidal—are, at their innermost core, driven to safeguard their existence. In fact, all life forms strive to survive, so it’s really nothing extraordinary at all, as everything wants to live and will attempt to do their damnedest to do so, often at the expense of everything else if need be. People have survived horrific occurrences since we first rose from four legs to two, so survival isn’t inherently special. If we weren’t able to persevere through adversity, none of us would be here today.
But what differentiates humans from, say, seagulls or rattlesnakes or houseplants, is the ability to consciously choose the manner in which we handle certain crisis situations based on our individual code of ethics. True, sometimes we have to do what we have to do; it’s not pretty, and we just get by. But in a world gone soft—a world that seems to grow more and more self-centred with each passing day—the concept of self-preservation at any cost is king (although I would consider self- promotion a more accurate term). Entitlement and compromised ethics seem to be the norm now: everyone whining about their woes as they step on others in the scrap for money, prestige, and the ludicrous 1.5 seconds of virtual fame most people seem to think they are entitled to in this sorry-ass modern age.
For survival to impress me these days, it has to be real , and it has to be done with panache. There are simply too many motherfuckers on this planet for me to be impressed by your mere continuing existence: making it through your girlfriend dumping you without hanging yourself, or a tough week at the office without having a meltdown, is not ‘surviving’. If I am going to call someone a survivor, that person has to hold on to their convictions in the face of real adversity, and to emerge from whatever crisis they faced with their inner directive intact and their head held high. It helps even more if they are a snazzy dresser. Nergal is one of these people—he survives with style .
I do not always agree with Nergal. Some of his beliefs taste a bit extreme for my palate, and I certainly wouldn’t handle some things the way he does. But I always, always, always respect those beliefs and the man who holds them, for they are well thought out and logical, and Ner holds steadfastly true to them, even when doing so could result in possibly very unpleasant circumstances for him. I witnessed the intersection of belief, action, and possible consequence first hand during an event he very briefly describes early on in this book.
In 2007, my band, Lamb Of God, was on tour with Behemoth as part of the Sounds of the Underground tour. The tour had made a stop on the grounds of Waverly Hills Sanatorium, an abandoned and reputedly haunted treatment centre for tuberculosis (and, later, elderly/mentally ill patients) located in the woods outside Louisville, Kentucky. There were twenty or so bands on the bill that day, one of which happened to be a Christian ‘metalcore’ band who apparently thought it would be a good idea to give Nergal a Bible before Behemoth took the stage. Whether this was an evangelical attempt to save Nergal’s immortal soul or a passive-aggressive snipe at the man, I do not know. What I do know is that it backfired on them in a big way.
My wife and I were standing at the side of the stage with a friend to watch Behemoth’s set when I saw Nergal stride to the front of the stage, Bible in hand, and address the crowd of seven thousand or so people. The venue had a capacity of four thousand, and the show had sold out well in advance. Another three thousand or so ticketless metal-heads, curious Louisville locals, and just plain old drunken rednecks with nothing better to do, had simply walked through the woods to check out the show. The festival wasn’t going as planned: everyone’s set was running late, there weren’t nearly enough port-a-johns, and the vendors had sold out of water early due to the unexpectedly large turnout. It was a blazingly hot and humid afternoon, and a noticeably foul mood hung over the sweaty crowd. Security wasn’t the tightest that