The number of influential death metal acts that have graced our ears over the decades is so fantastically huge that we could sit here all day and have a list several meters long with no end quite in sight yet. Benediction is just one of potentially hundreds of influential acts that we could name on that list, and they are certainly far from the least in just about every form. The history of this band is just as interesting as their discography with virtually every member that has ever been a part of Benediction coming together to create something else that has quality in absolute spades to show us they hold massive sway over multiple roads of metal rather than exclusively the death variety. Benediction has always had a respectable level of respect and fame amongst the community, but it’s been twelve years since the band’s last full-length record and with the return of the legendary vocalist that is Dave Ingram, what better time was there for this band’s inevitable return?
In all fairness and honesty, if you’re going to dive into what Benediction has created here looking for a completely new sound or even a mild reinventing of what they’ve been before, you won’t find much if any of that within the twelve tracks of “Scriptures”. That being said, there’s no way you can sit there and tell me that Benediction has lost a single ounce of its massive potency over the years given how spectacular this record is right from the beginning all the way to its immensely visceral end that only furthers the trend of death metal greatness that this act has had going since day one. This is one of those prime records that is made to showoff the absolute glory of the properly done riff with each song boasting one massive offering after another, and it’s only through the masterful wielding of death metal that Benediction exceeds at doing so without issue or fault in sight that immediately culminates in “Scriptures” becoming one of the last great stops in 2020 for premium death metal. We’ve all seen works like this before, but there’s nothing quite like seeing it done by a larger than life act that more than knows what they’re doing with this being a next-level example. If the name of Benediction had somehow left the consciousness of the scene in the past decade, then this offering will put it right back into the minds of those who far too easily forget. By all means, it won’t leave my brain any time soon nor my neighbors’ should my speakers be working properly, and rest assured for they are.
When this year started off, I was half-convinced that the only legendary name in death metal that we were going to see more of was going to be from the likes of Cannibal Corpse, but it’s here that Benediction has proven me wrong twelve times over in exemplary fashion. Everything about “Scriptures” is what any death metal fan could ever hope to expect from a band like this as the name speaks for itself and the album doing nothing but justice to the band’s already-immaculate reputation, and it’s going to be right at home amongst the other massive works that this band has pumped out over the decades.
“Scriptures” releases on October 16th via Nuclear Blast Records! You can pre-order “Scriptures” via multiples sources here.
Track Listing:
1. Iterations of I
2. Scriptures in Scarlet
3. The Crooked Man
4. Stormcrow
5. Progenitors Of A New Paradigm
6. Rabid Carnality
7. In Our Hands, The Scars
8. Tear Off These Wings
9. Embrace The Kill
10. Neverwhen
11. The Blight At The End
12. We Are Legion
