BENIGHTED
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(Osmose Productions)
39:07min

I was expecting a frog-noise brutal Death Metal band. Well, it is quite brutal Death Metal, but with a twist. Yes, at times it does sound a bit like they are trying to be technical, think NECROPHAGIST, yet they are more pounding. In fact, I would say that if you take away some of the more technical parts, there is a very enjoyable pure Grindcore band, which brings to mind the legendary TERRORIZER and even early MASTER in that aspect. Yet, they use much more brutal vocals, and at the same time more melodic / controlled breaks. The massive production with fat guitars and powerful drumming (if maybe a bit too triggered for my tastes) fit’s the sound quite good. Although the ultra-deep vocals sometimes makes them sounds like CANNIBAL CORPSE, they are clever enough to use variation on them, just like the music. Fans of all things brutal might find their technical parts way too much, fans of technical Metal might find this way too brutal, and although there are times they could make things more direct, the overall result is interesting, yet it all has been done by some other bands one way or the other. Some flaws I find here is that the production, although very good, as many modern releases might hide some limitations in the performance, and that some parts are way too much start-stop thing. I suppose that in a live situation, unless they have a magnificent live engineer it will all sound like a wall of noise. Although I like guitars fat and up-front, I just tend to get sick of overproduced albums that sound so flawless. I take any day a recording with some minor normal mistakes than computer Metal all the way. Oh, well, I am being cranky again. This is already their fifth release, so if you dig this one, it would be a good idea to check their back catalogue from this French band.

Julián Núñez

Julián Núñez

Related reviews / interviews:
BENIGHTED - Internal Cephalic Production (Edouard Vergriete)
BENIGHTED - Identisick (Jason Campbell)

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