I don’t know if Music in general can kill, but if it does, Benediction should be blamed for mass murder. It was about time for this album to be released simply because the last record of these Birmingham extremists dates back to 2001 when they put out ‘Organised Chaos’. Benediction are responsible for classic Death Metal albums like ‘The Grand Leveller’ and especially ‘Transcend The Rubicon’ so every new audio effort from their camp is curious to say the least. Where does ‘Killing Music’ stand in Benediction’s discography then?
First of all this is the second recording with Dave Hunt on the mic – the man who had the hard task of replacing the charismatic frontman Dave Ingram. Hunt’s roars on the new album are furious, with strong power and I definitely like what comes out from his throat more than his vocals on ‘Organised Chaos’. Speaking about the music I must warn you – if you are looking for complex Death/Grind with 1000 riffs per minute – sorry guys, ‘Killing Music’ isn’t what you’re looking for. Benediction attack with their specific blend of simple and straightforward Death/Thrash Metal with obvious influence from the old UK Punk/Crust scene. No blastbeats here!
In their new album Benediction sound like a Death Metal version of Discharge which means groovy and aggression-filled tracks that will cause chaos at concerts. Songs like the explosive opener ‘The Grey Man’, ‘Controlopolis’, ‘Killing Music’ or ‘Dripping With Disgust’ are all raw pure and unrefined energy. The production of ‘Killing Music’ is done by Mick Kenny (who has worked with Anaal Nathrakh among others) and he has achieved a powerful yet unpolished sound. The last two tracks show Benediction’s respect to the early UK Crust scene: cover of Broken Bones’ ‘See Through My Eyes’ and Amebix’s paranoid anthem ‘Largactyl’. Special guest grunts on these last two songs have been done by Karl Willets from Bolt Thrower, Kelly Shaefer from Atheist and strangely enough (or maybe not) the ex-Faith No More bassist Billy Gould.
What more can I say? I know fans who think that Benediction haven’t released anything good since ‘Transcend The Rubicon’ but believe me – ‘Killing Music’ really deserves your time and attention. Because it is honest, simple, Old School Death Metal. Killing Music indeed!
