Benighted: Carnivore Sublime

One of the most annoying things about this album is its use of sound effects that feature women and babies crying. The sounds only show up from time to time, but they are no less annoying for that. I also grew tired of the pig-like grunts from the vocals. I know this is supposed to be extreme music and that I shouldn't expect any traditional stuff, but the whole thing wore me out. What could be interesting for a track or two shouldn't be expanded over forty minutes of music.

I wondered, too, what the point of the album art was. The iconography is familiar; art history is filled with pictures of women holding a child at their breast. Yes, these are usually Madonna and child paintings, the purpose of which is to instill faith and so on. But this picture is not clear as to its purpose or its content. The iconography, as I suggested, is familiar, but there doesn't seem to be much more at stake. There is some tell-tale blood spatter around the right side of the picture but what does it mean? Is there a carnivore—per the title—off camera, a beast that will threaten the life of the child or the woman? Who knows? The track "Collection of Dead Portraits" comes to mind. Maybe that's all this is.

Back to the music: things just don't add up to anything more than screaming and growling. Sure, the riffs are intense and the drumming aggressive. Likewise, things are brutal to the extreme. Fans of this style of metal will have plenty to enjoy here. I found the whole thing exhausting.

Track Listing:
1. X2Y
2. Noise
3. Experience Your Flesh
4. Slaughter/Suicide
5. Spit
6. Defiled Purity
7. Jekyll
8. Collection of Dead Portraits
9. Carnivore Sublime
10. Les Morsures du Cerbère
11. June and the Laconic Solstice

Added: April 2nd 2014
Reviewer: Carl Sederholm
Score:
Related Link: Band Website
Hits: 2493
Language: english

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