BEHEMOTH’s Nergal Pushes Back On Modern Metal Hype: ‘It’s Not Me. It’s Not My DNA.’

Blackened death metal icon Behemoth frontman Adam “Nergal” Darski isn’t spending much time exploring the mainstream side of today’s metal scene. Speaking with Jaimunji, the 48-year-old made it clear that rising arena-level acts like Sleep Token and Parkway Drive—or even chart-topping veterans Avenged Sevenfold—simply aren’t on his radar.

Instead, Darski says he remains captivated by the legends he grew up admiring, the ones still filling stadiums decades into their careers. As he put it, those acts are irreplaceable—and time is running out to witness them.

“Every time Guns N’ Roses are in town, I’m up and I always go and check it out. With all those legacy bands, be it Guns, be it AC/DC, be it f*cking Metallica, [Iron] Maiden, in the first place I’m a fan of their music. I collect their records. I’ve always been a fan [of those bands], as far as I remember. And I always tell whoever I talk to, man, just go and see those bands.

Buy tickets and go and see [them play], because the time is flying. And it’s gonna be in a blink of the eye that Metallica is no longer, fcking Maiden is no longer. You would be, like, ‘Oh, sht. I should have gone and gone and seen them.’ Yeah, you f*cking should. So every time those bands come across Poland or wherever I have a chance, [I] fucking go and embrace that because this era is getting to an end.”

Darski admits the incoming generation of major touring bands—from Parkway Drive’s arena-dominance to the masked mystique of Sleep Token—just doesn’t connect with him, even if he recognizes their popularity and production values.

“It’s gonna be another few years, hopefully good years for the [afore]mentioned bands and others — there’s more, but there’s lesser and lesser. It’s shrinking, [the list of] big arena rock-star bands that I look up to. I mean, I know Parkway Drive is probably an arena band now, but it doesn’t tell me anything. I don’t know what Parkway Drive is. I don’t know what Avenged Sevenfold is. I don’t know what — who is Sleep Token? It’s not me. It’s not my DNA. I mean, I don’t f*cking get it. It’s probably good music. It’s all well played and big productions and stuff, but once those giants leave the earth, leave the stage, let’s put it that way — I’m lonely. There’s nowhere to go.”

Darski’s focus remains fixed on the titans he grew up with, and he warns fans not to take those long-time heroes for granted as their era inches toward its twilight.

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