Other than the notion that life can be full of suffering, there's not much of an overlap between the 2004 romantic drama The Notebook and Satanic blackened death metal from Poland... until now. The film's star, Ryan Gosling, inspired a new facet of Behemoth's music in which they utilized a children's choir on the lead I Loved You at Your Darkest single, "God = Dog."

"I stole that idea from Ryan Gosling — I don't know if you know that actor. Not only is he a great actor, he's also a great musician," Behemoth leader Nergal told Metalshop (video below) when discussing where the idea to use the collective voices of children originated. "He's got his own band. I believe he's got one record under his belt. It's him, it's very folky, it's very like Me And That Man [Nergal's dark folk project], and he's got all these kids choirs. That's how I got inspired to use kids choir in Me And That Man," he continued.

Explaining how this creative idea spilled over into Behemoth's music, Nergal commented, "But then I thought, 'Okay, Me And That Man, it came out really cool. I like it. But how about…?' Because, to me, kids and their voices, it represents all the innocence of human nature, because kids are innocent, kids are clean. And just combining this with the whole ideology behind the song and combining kids choirs, incorporating it in such an extreme and crazy song, I thought, 'Okay…' That's what I love in art the most — a lot of dynamics."

I Loved You at Your Darkest, Behemoth's follow-up to 2014's The Satanist will be released Oct. 5 on Metal Blade. The band will hit the road with At the Gates and Wolves in the Throne Room for a North American tour starting Oct. 20 and a list of stops can be found here.

Nergal Talks With Metalshop

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