Necrobreed

2017 is turning out to be a promising year for death/grind with anticipated releases from Dying Fetus and Pig Destroyer, and kicking off the wave of exciting deathgrind albums this year is the latest offering by French brutal deathgrind band Benighted, entitled Necrobreed.

The album begins with a strange intro, entitled “Hush Little Baby,” which is creepy, but with its duration of slightly one over minute, I find the intro too long to hold my attention. As soon as the next track, “Reptilian” hits though, it becomes near impossible not to be sent into a headbanging frenzy. The song instantaneously delivers an aural assault of blast beats, heavy guitars, and shrieked vocals. The song is fast, catchy, full of tasty riffs, and lets the listener know that they’re in for one hell of a ride.

Necrobreed showcases Benighted at their tightest performance yet. There isn’t a single note or beat out of place here. The album does a good job of highlighting the musicianship and writing ability of all five members well. From “Reptilian” to “Mass Grave,” the listener can expect a release filled to the brim with riffs from both the death metal and grindcore schools of thought that are as catchy as they are heavy. The drumming is blazing fast and precise, something to be expected of former Necrophagist drummer Romain Goulon. The bass is utilized well and stands out in sections where it breaks up the riffing. Lastly, you couldn’t discuss Benighted without mentioning their vocalist Julien Truchan, who stands out as a result of his high range and the wide variety of vocal styles he covers. He does does everything from gurgles to growls to shrieks to pig squeals. While I’m not a fan of pig squeals, in the case of Benighted, I can tolerate them because the other aspects of the music make up for it.

“Forgive Me Father” is a personal favorite off this album, as it features guest vocals by my favorite frontman, Trevor Strand of The Black Dahlia Murder. His voice in conjunction with Julien’s makes for a strong dual vocal performance. Another powerful contender for my favorite song on this album is “Leatherface,” with its crushing death metal riffs and catchy grind chorus. It also features a very nice slam with some of the most disgustingly brutal vocals I’ve ever heard. I wish more slams found their way onto the album, because Benighted sure knows how to pull this off well.

I absolutely love when a band can manage to make the final moments of their album truly shine, and on the final song “Mass Grave,” Benighted hit the nail straight on the head. Towards the end of the song, there’s an incredible death metal riff that builds up to a depressive black metal outro complete with tormented vocals. The resulting effect is haunting and leaves me craving more every time I revisit the song.

All in all, Benighted have delivered a very solid album this year. If you enjoy bands like Aborted and Cattle Decapitation, then I encourage you to give this album a listen.

The day has come, finally! Been waiting to sink my teeth into this for a while. It's easily my most anticipated album of 2017, so lets get this started.

As some of you may know, the band dropped a few songs before the initial release, "Versipellis" being one of them. I loved what I heard and naturally wondered if the rest of the album could hold up to that track, as it's quite a bold statement.

Benighted are one of those bands that don't like to hold back and usually go all guns blazing, so I was a bit surprised when I heard that this album had a short intro to it. No matter, the band quickly get down to their business of kicking your face in with a devastating assault of guitars, bass, and drums. Goddamn. It's been 3 years since their previous effort, the equally fantastic "Carnivore Sublime", and the band are once again out for blood.

Not much has changed since their previous offering - the band still display multiple vocal styles, which is a bit of their trademark. Heavy as fuck guitars and insane drumming throughout will not dissatisfy you. Speaking of drums, the band welcomes veteran death metal skin blaster Romain Goulon to their ranks. Known for his work in Disavowed especially, he's a welcome addition to the fold, as you'll have quite a hard time finding more experience on the skins than this guy. So the drums are well and truly in good hands (and very fast feet)

There's just something about Benighted that makes me smile. Like the intro to "Leatherface" features a sound clip from the movie "Commando", which is just undeniably badass. Their style of metal is also very creative I find, they don't like sticking to the same thing, or even the same style, for long. They like experimenting and they do so admirably, without sounding like they are all over the place. It's all blended together so smoothly and expertly that all I can do is sit and nod my head in appreciation of what these guys are doing.

There are some mellower moments on the album (not sure if exactly mellow, but mellow by Benighted standards, meaning not absolutely batshit crazy) such as "Monsters Make Monsters", which isn't afraid to throw in a nice abstract mid section, and also a guitar solo. Speaking of guitar solos, don't come here expecting lead work. That's not what this band is about. This band is about rattling the calcium right off your fucking teeth.

Vocals are absolutely top notch. I love the screams, yells, howls, pig squeals. Fuck, Julien Truchan and Pierre Arnoux are fucking beasts. Some of my favorite vocals in all of metal, right here. The guitars sound nice and thick and clear, as do the drums. Thankfully, they're not triggered to sound like a type writer - they still sound like drums. The bass is also nicely in the mix, maintaining the foundation for this madness.

I almost jumped with joy when I saw that the deluxe version had a cover of Marduk's "Christraping Black Metal" on it. Lets face it, while I love "Panzer", the mix and sound was never really that great, even though the tracks are legendary. Here, it sounds like.. oh my. You kind of have to hear it to know what I'm talking about. In short, it sounds like the end of the fucking world. It also has a cover of "Biotech is Godzilla", which is equally a "holy shit what the fuck just happened" moment.

I absolutely love this. Benighted is the only metal band I wish I was a part of. This shit is fucking immense. Definitely a must in your collection.