Beherit is a name that keeps popping up every now and then, although the band broke up several years ago. Beherit’s demos and other recordings are still under popular demand, but since they are no longer available, Spinefarm decided to let the beast run free once more, as a best of-collection. After years of silence, the mastermind of Beherit, Nuclear Holocausto Of Bloody Vengeance (better known as Holocausto) was kind enough to give one last interview for Sue Magazine.

Where did you get the idea to publish the "Beast of Beherit -Complete Worxxx"- collection?
-Spinefarm wanted to release an official Beherit-collection as a response to all those crappy bootleg-Beherit recordings..

Does this compilation really include all the best Beherit-songs?
-Let’s say that it contains some of the best songs. It was more important for us to create an entity that pleases the ear.

Do you think that maybe Beherit entered the realm of black metal too early, since black metal started to sell only after Beherit had broken up? And what do you think about today’s hugely successful black metal-albums?
-We didn’t care whether our music would sell or not. Beherit was our "underground hobby". We listened to Brasilian bands, traded demos and tapes with people from Singapore, Malaysia, all over the world. There were days I did nothing but gave interviews, exchanged letters. At the time, when the only truly successful black metal band was Venom, no-one thought that black metal could become huge, sell millions of records.

Let’s go back to the times when Beherit’s name started to echo through the forests and plains of Finland. What’s your opinion on the 1990 Beherit demos ("Seventh Blasphemy", "Demonomancy" and "Dawn of Satan’s Millennium") today?
-Well, those recordings are all quite "raw", recorded live, cheaply reproduced. The heavier Beherit first appeared in 1991 in the form of "Diabolus". That was when the duo from Rovaniemi (Holocausto plus the drummer known as The Last Slaughter) travelled to Kemi’s Necro-Tico studios.

The compilation also includes the material originally released under the "Diabolus"-name, the "Down There…"-sessions.
-Yes. Turbo Music, which was our record company at the time, sent us 100 $ for the recording of our second album. As you might already know, they copied the first album ("The Oath of Black Blood", which includes the "Demonomancy"-demo and the "Dawn of Satan’s Millennium"-single) from a demotape without our permission. We thought it would be safer to release material under a different name.

Three songs on the compilation have been taken from those non-black metal albums "H418ov21.c" and "Electric Doom Synthesis". Was the idea the same behind these albums as it was on "Drawing Down the Moon" since you kept the name "Beherit" while the music went through some radical changes?
-"H418.." was supposed to be a special teaser-release before the release of a new band-Beherit album. I just never managed to get the band together again.

Since you’re still making music, I must try and look behind the curtain. How does the new album of Suuri Shamaani, "Mysteerien Maailma" ("The World of Mysteries", spi84cd), differ from those two Beherit recordings, "H418.." and "Electric Doom Synthesis"?
-Suuri Shamaani makes ambientmeta-music. It uses information about metaphysics and the human brain’s areas of operation as its sources.

Who chose the two live songs ("Black Arts" and "Werewolf, Semen & Blood") for the "Beast of Beherit"? And why were these songs taken from that specific live performance (Riihimäki 21.8.1992)? Was that the last live-appearance of Beherit?
-Yes that was Beherit’s last performance. We played together with Kimmo Luttinen, (ex-)Impaled Nazarene, who was Beherit’s drummer at the time.

Is it possible for Beherit to make a comeback now that Holocausto has re-appeared in the form of Suuri Shamaani?
-No. Absolutely and positively not.

That’s all about that then. We shall never again see Beherit on stage. Let’s just cherish our memories of those unique performances of the past. Unique because there was always something happening. What do you think about your gigs, which usually included a lot of blood, and once even the slaughtering of a pig’s head (luckily the pig was dead already when brought to the stage)?
-I don’t recall a single sober performance. Our motto was "drink till you barf blood".

I myself have a small collection of Beherit-tapes. There are quite a lot of tapes including a song called "Six Days With…" Those six days have apparently been spent with all sorts of people and personifications. Who are all those people (the first appearence of the song was under the name "Six Days With Sadistic Slayer", on the compilation it is called "Six Days With Lord Diabolus"…)?
-You’re probably the first person to notice that.

This interview is nearing its end, so I must try to reach to the very heart of Beherit. What is/was most characteristic of Beherit?
-To be the first black metal band of Finland. And that Beherit truly was. So let us let Beherit rest in peace.

Interview stolen from indie/rock/punk/metalzine Sue, used without permission! 2000!