The Behemoth was a punk rock/thrash metal band, often referred to as "hillbilly metal," that was established by Jim Martin in late 1994, approximately one year after his departure from Faith No More and shortly after he recorded his guitar parts for Voodoocult's second album. For this new venture, Martin enlisted Bob Keith as the lead vocalist and harmonica player, Joe Cabral on drums, and Ron Holzner on bass and backing vocals. The band's name was initially coined as "Cootie Club," a title reported by Kerrang! Magazine as "Jim Martin's Cootie Club." However, it wasn't until their first show, scheduled for January 16, 1995, at the Trocadero in San Francisco, that Martin decided to rename the band to "The Behemoth."

In the summer of 1995, The Behemoth recorded four tracks at the home studio of Jason Newsted, bassist of Metallica, releasing them as a demo tape that Martin described as "a limited edition 4-song sampler." This demo tape was distributed through Martin's own music publishing label, Living Dead Music. Two of the tracks, "Fear" and "Navigator," were later released together as a limited edition 7" vinyl single by Wingnut Records in September 1995, with only 500 copies pressed on purple vinyl. Additionally, a music video for "Navigator," which is a cover of a song by The Pogues, was created using a mix of live performance footage and cartoon animations featuring a dinosaur. The band also produced a very limited run of t-shirts, numbering just 36, featuring the animated dinosaur from the video. Notably, in June 1996, The Behemoth had the opportunity to open for Metallica at one of their exclusive Metclub shows in San Francisco.

Following the release of the 7" single, The Behemoth attracted interest from various European record labels, including Steamhammer/CBH Records, represented by A&R executive Tom Miller. Nevertheless, the band opted to wait for a deal in the United States. Subsequently, vocalist Bob Keith departed, prompting Jim Martin, who had provided backing vocals, to take over as the lead vocalist. At this point, bassist Ron Holzner was replaced by Brent Weeks.

In July 1996, The Behemoth officially signed with the Germany-based label Steamhammer (an imprint of SPV GmbH). They recorded a full-length album titled "Milk and Blood" from August 1996 to February 1997, which was released on September 29, 1997. The growing interest in a project led by a former member of Faith No More caught the attention of the established Polish black/death metal band Behemoth (3), leading to the American band having to change its name by the end of 1996, during the recording of "Milk and Blood." As Jim Martin was now the frontman, the band was frequently referred to as "Jim Martin's New Band," which eventually resulted in them being known simply as "Jim Martin" or "The Jim Martin Band" in contracts.

Most of the songs on "Milk and Blood" were initially performed live by The Behemoth with Bob Keith as the vocalist. Throughout the late 1990s, The Jim Martin Band attempted to tour in support of the album, including plans for a trip to the UK and Europe. However, outside of a few shows in California in 1998, touring was minimal as Martin's schedule was largely occupied by performances with Fang (2) as their live guitarist. In 2000, he became an official member of Fang and recorded four songs with them, but he left the band shortly before they were set to record an album. "Milk and Blood" was finally released in the United States on June 27, 2000, through Deadline Music, a Los Angeles-based heavy metal label, and plans for The Jim Martin Band to tour in support of the album were made. Unfortunately, due to personal circumstances, the band parted ways before the end of 2000.