Guitarist/vocalist Adam "Nergal" Darski of Polish extreme metallers BEHEMOTH joined the long-running English gothic rock band FIELDS OF THE NEPHILIM on stage earlier tonight (Friday, May 6) in Katowice, Poland to perform the song "Penetration". This marked Nergal's first performance since undergoing a bone marrow transplant last December. He says, "I don't remember when the last time I was THAT nervous. First of all, I had to join one of my favorite bands ever, true legends, FIELDS OF THE NEPHILIM… Secondly, I'm still not 100% in shape so I didn't know how my body would react. I would risk saying I'm maybe 60% of what I used to be… but still progressing!
"Anyway, we did a song 'Penetration' together with Carl McCoy and Co.
"What a blast, I have to tell you. I had a serious adrenaline rush and it was such a boost of energy I can't even describe. My mouth dried out after 30 seconds so I could hardly breathe but the energy wouldn't let me stop. I was carried away. The moment I saw the crowd, I felt this double-bass pounding underneath my feet… I was in trance.
"I'm counting days 'till we come back with BEHEMOTH full-time. Five months to go…huh."
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BEHEMOTH will return to the live stage in October — marking the band's first public appearances since Nergal was diagnosed with leukemia last August.
In a recent interview with Metal Sucks, Nergal stated about BEHEMOTH's upcoming touring activities, "The October shows are just to get warmed up. Then we might do some shows in Australia and Asia — that's the plan. Then the priority for early 2012 is a European tour, then shortly after that, a U.S. tour. This is our top priority for the next year and we're going to fucking do it!"
He added, "Just wait and see us on the stage. You'll see. I'm not going to reveal anything about it, but we … It's not gonna just be BEHEMOTH. It's not like time stood still for us, like we were frozen in time and are just going to appear with the same entourage and in the same outfits. No. We're going to come back, we want to remind people of our existence obviously, but we want to make a fucking impact, an impression. We want to show them that, hey, we are still fucking evolving. We're not just hoping that you'll come to see us because I was sick. Fuck that. I'll be better soon and we're going to deliver!"
Speaking to Revolver magazine last month, Nergal said, "We just decided to play some so-called comeback shows in Poland just to warm up and see how we feel, just to be onstage again together. And I really hope that it's going to turn out great and that it's going to cause other tours and stuff. We have plans until the summer of next year. We already have some cool offers. We're talking to our agents. There's some really, really cool ideas. I don't want to reveal anything yet, but once we're done with October shows, and we feel good about it, and there's chemistry onstage, we definitely want to continue the 'Evangelion' touring cycle. There's still some markets we didn't even touch. We've done over 100 shows so far to 'Evangelion'. We're going to do another 100 at least, and then we can focus on the next record.
"To be honest, we can't wait to hit the stage again. I'm so fucking anxious. I'm so excited, so psyched about it. I have dreams about coming back onstage. I dream about BEHEMOTH shows. It's insane, I know, but I can't tell you how much it's a relief to the band and how much it means to us."
