Benediction: Killing Music [reissue]

This album is typically seen as a return to form for the band. The title comes from the band's ongoing bravado that it creates music so powerful that it kills the competition. The song titles certainly bear out that brashness, especially "Beg, You Dogs" and "Cold, Deathless, Unrepentant." The lyrics on this album largely continue the pattern of occupying the darkest spaces of psychopathy through imagined perspectives on murder, violence, torture, and so on. This band certainly has a dark side, one that strikes a chord with thousands of fans. If this album is a return to form, that must mean that the previous release, Organised Chaos, was a step down and that Killing Music is a step up. I think I understand that point. Fans often want bands to stick to their guns or to rediscover their mojo after stepping away from the elements that made them strong in the first place. In my earlier review of Organised Chaos, I suggested that it may not have been the awful album most people think it was. Sure, Killing Music is faster and more energetic, but it doesn't necessarily have the creative spark one might hope for. The songs on this album make a good impression, but they may also lack the vigor of the band's earlier work. Having now rediscovered this band by going through its catalogue, I find the earlier work to be the strongest, reaching its peak with Grind Bastard but never flagging so much that the band's later efforts should be forgotten. I've said this elsewhere, but I'd rather listen to anything by Benediction than 90s Metallica. If the later work isn't as strong as the earlier work, at least the band didn't hand over its death metal credentials.

Benediction is a great band and these reissues are well worth picking up. They are all packaged nicely and come with a gold CD. I've enjoyed working my way through the band's discography and I recommend any and all of these to fans young and old.

Track Listing:
1. Intro
2. The Grey Man
3. Controlopolis (Rats in the Mask)
4. Killing Music
5. They Must Die Screaming
6. Dripping with Disgust
7. Wrath and Regret
8. As the Skin Weeps
9. Cold, Deathless, Unrepentant
10. Immaculate Façade
11. Burying the Hatchet
12. Beg, You Dogs
13. Seeing Through My Eyes ("Broken Bones" Cover)
14. Largactyl ("Ambix" Cover)

Added: March 5th 2016
Reviewer: Carl Sederholm
Score:
Related Link: Band Facebook Page
Hits: 1937
Language: english

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