Behemoth’s follow-up to the The Shit Ov God is a bridge between that 2025 release and wherever the Polish extreme metal band may be headed next. I, Scvlptor isn’t a proper studio album but rather a collection of unreleased material spearheaded by the track “I, Scvlptor,” which was originally written during The Shit Ov God sessions. “The song didn’t make the record, not because it was weaker, but because it was too strong and would compete with the other material,” Behemoth mastermind Adam “Nergal” Darski tells Apple Music. You don’t want to jeopardize your own stuff. You have to spread it out somehow.” The other songs Nergal wanted to spread out include “Begotten” and “Lord ov the Horizons,” the latter of which dates back to 2021. “It’s a hidden treasure that was waiting for its moment,” he says. “And it’s never been right until now. Of course, I could have tried to squeeze it onto The Shit Ov God, but it didn’t fit the concept of the record. And yet it’s a very special song.” I, Scvlptor also includes two rerecordings of early Behemoth songs: “Rise of the Blackstorm of Evil” from their 1993 demo, The Return of the Northern Moon, and “In Thy Pandemaeternum” from their 1998 album, Pandemonic Incantations. “Every now and then, I revisit our early stuff,” Nergal explains. “On every occasion when I do that, I’m reflecting, like, ‘How much of this can be relevant today? Is it still valid? Is it still Behemoth?’ If we decide to reapproach the song, it’s because I think it will gain something. We’re fucking around with our own legacy, basically.” The collection is rounded out by covers of two bands that compose black metal’s foundational pillars: Venom and Bathory. Behemoth’s cover of Venom’s 1981 debut single, “In League with Satan,” features guest vocals from Stian “Shagrath” Thoresen from Norwegian black metal OGs Dimmu Borgir. “This was the first Venom song I ever heard,” Nergal says. “It’s one of my all-time favorites, and it ages like gold. Behemoth’s live cover of Bathory’s “The Return of Darkness and Evil” was born of a request from Poland’s Mystic Festival to play the song onstage as a tribute to the great Swedish black-metal progenitors. “It’s one of my favorite Bathory songs,” Nergal says, but he’s quick to point out that Behemoth replicated the version from the 1984 compilation Scandinavian Metal Attack, not the version that appeared the following year on Bathory’s The Return…... “I’ve always had so much nostalgia and sentiment for it,” he says. “So, it was a great opportunity to sing and play this song I love so much.”