Behemoth (pronunciation ) is an influential Polish blackened death metal band. They are considered to have played one of the most important roles in establishing the Polish extreme metal underground, along-side bands such as Vader, Graveland, and Sacrilegium. Until the early 2000s, the band played classic black metal with heathen lyrical contents, but soon changed to that of an occult and thelemic themes written by their lead vocalist Nergal and Krzysztof Azarewicz. This coincided with an increase in musical craftsmanship that allowed them to expand out of the black metal underground and consequently garnered them with extended international recognition. With the 2004 release of Demigod, they fully embraced brutal technical death metal, while retaining their own signature style characterized by the drumwork of Inferno, multi-layered vocals and Nile-style Middle-Eastern influence. They have become respected in the modern death metal scene, often mentioned along-side other bands such as Nile (with whom they have collaborated and toured).