Artist: Benighted
Label: Osmose Productions
Released: 2007
The French death metal / grindcore band Benighted has been active, with more or less success, for ten years. But they definitely got the most attention with their fifth studio album Icon (Infinite Conscience Of Nothingness), which came out in 2007 on Osmose Productions, probably the best-known French label dealing in small-scale, underground music.
The album gives us twelve songs that run a pretty respectable length for grind / death metal, with almost all of them going past the three-minute mark.
Interestingly, the album opens with a fairly standard intro made up of the line ”Why are you so brutal with me” and an insanely fast, short burst that follows it. Luckily, things change already with the second song, which even throws in a guitar solo and riffs that are more typical of thrash metal than death metal or even grindcore. But of course it’s clear what genre we’re dealing with from the very first squeals vocalist Julien Truchan lets out, using classic high-pitched, psychotic screams and extremely deep growls. The combination of the two sounds totally hysterical, and with the drummer’s blast beats backing it up, it comes across as very convincing and powerful. No wonder many people know Benighted for the reputation that crowns them the most promising French band and the most brutal one at the same time. Here’s proof that extreme music is still on the front line and keeps evolving in its own relaxed way, ignoring trends and following only itself.
A big plus goes to the many other metal influences coming from thrash metal, death metal, grindcore, hardcore…all of it blends nicely within individual songs and keeps the album from turning dry and predictable, the way it has happened in countless brutal death metal bands that stretch one rhythm over an entire song. That makes the album dynamic and harmonious, worth coming back to. Finally, here’s an album that’s not just an effort to growl from the lowest possible octave, dredged up from the bowels, and hit supersonic drum speeds.
The sound quality is worth a mention too, offering a clear sound for every instrument and the vocals. It happens way too often with more extreme bands that all we can make out is the bass drum and the singer’s deep, rasping voice drowning out the guitars (lead, rhythm and bass alike).
Pretty much the only minus we could give the album is a certain stuckness within the frame offered by the lyrical side and the speed of the grindcore and death metal genres. In that respect Benighted are just one of many, since in a way they don’t add anything new but simply follow tradition. Bringing other genres into the album doesn’t make them revolutionaries either, it just puts them among the conformists who use tricks others have already tried out.
Despite that last bit of criticism, you can put Icon in your ears with a clear conscience, since it’s currently one of the better albums the extreme underground has to offer.
Lineup
Julien Truchan – vocals
Olivier “Gab” Gabriel – guitar
Liem “Litchee” N’Guyen – guitar, bass
Eric Lombard – bass
Kikou – drums
Tracklist
1.Complete Exsanguination (00:26)
2.Slut (03:00)
3.Grind Wit (03:39)
4.Saw It All (03:54)
5.Forsaken (03:30)
6.Smile Then Bleed (03:38)
7.Pledge of Retaliation (03:03)
8.Icon (04:18)
9.Human Circles (03:49)
10.Invoxhate (03:28)
11.The Underneath (03:01)
12.Blindfolded Centuries (03:21)
