Benediction: Grind Bastard [Reissue]

My tour through the Benediction reissues continues with Grind Bastard, the last album to feature Dave Ingram on vocals and one of the band's overall best achievements. Of course, I am a big fan of the band's earliest work, the recordings that show its initial strengths and experimentation with sound, songwriting, and power. With The Dreams You Dread, Benediction took a slightly darker and slower turn. Some listeners might have seen that album as a turn away from the death metal style the band built up so well from the start. But The Dreams You Dread was a necessary transformation and can be reasonable considered a generally strong and dark near-masterpiece. With Grind Bastard, the band took all its best moves and combined them into something raw and angry and self-assured. The later albums (reviews to come!) declined a bit after this one, but Grind Bastard will be remembered as a peak release.

The best songs on this album are the earliest ones: "Deadfall," "West of Hell," "Magnificat" and so on. The cover of Judas Priest's "Electric Eye" is pretty good, but I missed Halford's distinctive style. I feel the same way about "Destroyer," the band's take on Twisted Sister. Both covers are good enough, but they don't hit the heights of originals like "West of Hell" and others. "Grind Bastard" and "I" are the most ambitious tracks, mostly because of their length. "I" is especially good whereas the title track carries on a bit too much. If you like Benediction, grab this gold CD limited release, put it in your player, and rediscover a classic.

Track Listing:
1. Deadfall
2. Agonised
3. West of Hell
4. Magnificat
5. Nervebomb
6. Electric Eye
7. Grind Bastard
8. Shadow World
9. The Bodiless
10. Carcinoma Angel
11. We the Freed
12. Destroyer
13. I
14. We Are the League (Bonus Track)

Added: February 20th 2016
Reviewer: Carl Sederholm
Score:
Related Link: Band Facebook Page
Hits: 1914
Language: english

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