BENEDICTION — Scriptures (review)

BENEDICTION — Scriptures album cover Album · 2020 · Death Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
UMUR
"Scriptures" is the 8th full-length studio album by UK death metal act Benediction. The album was released through Nuclear Blast in October 2020. It´s the successor to "Killing Music" from 2008 and while Benediction did not officially split-up, 12 years between studio albums is arguably a long recording hiatus. Quite a few things have happened in those years though and regarding lineup changes only guitarists Peter Rew and Darren Brookes remain from the lineup who recorded the predecessor. "Scriptures" however sees the return of lead vocalist Dave Ingram who was previously a member of Benediction from 1990 to 1998 and recorded four studio albums with the band. He replaces Dave Hunt who left in 2019 to concentrate fully on his other act Anaal Nathrakh. Bassist Frank Healy has been replaced by Dan Bate and drummer Neil Hutton has been replaced by Giovanni Durst.

Dave Hunt has been a great lead vocalist for Benediction and his contributions to the band´s history should not be belittled in any way. The return of Ingram does however bring a lot of old school death metal credibility and authenticity to this particular Benediction lineup, and he is one of the more distinct sounding death metal vocalists from the early 90s. His performance here is strong and commanding and his growling vocals are as intelligible as ever. So when a vocalist change had to happen, this one is close to being the perfect one.

Stylistically the material on "Scriptures" is through and through the sound of Benediction. Old school death metal which is predominantly heavy and mid-paced but also featuring both faster and slower parts. This could just as well have been released in the early- to mid-90s, if it hadn´t been for the more contemporary sounding production values. The sound production is powerful, raw, and detailed, and suits the material perfectly. The material is well written, for the most part memorable, and in some cases almost instantly catchy too. Ingram´s lyrics and his phrasing are a great asset to the music and one of the reasons for the catchiness of the music. Some of the highlights of "Scriptures" are the opening track "Iterations Of I", "The Crooked Man", and "Stormcrow", but the album keeps up the steam all the way through the playing time. Upon conclusion "Scriptures" is everything you could have asked for in a comeback album from Benediction and I can´t see many fans being disappointed by this album. A 4 star (80%) rating is fully deserved.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
Nightfly wrote:
more than 2 years ago
Great album, waiting for my copy to arrive.

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

Human Rosin Melodic Metalcore
HATE BREEDER
Buy this album from MMA partners
Through The Hell Hardcore Punk
ENEMY 906
Buy this album from MMA partners
Lightmatter: Rebirth Deathcore
EARTHGAZER
Buy this album from MMA partners
Eye Of Horus (Lightmatter EP Pt. 2) Deathcore
EARTHGAZER
Buy this album from MMA partners
Galaxy888 (Lightmatter EP Pt. 1) Deathcore
EARTHGAZER
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

Agremorta - Adrocitas (Official Lyric Video)
AGREMORTA
Bosh66· 3 days ago
Agremorta - Ploratus Umbra (Official Lyric Video)
AGREMORTA
Bosh66· 3 days ago
Agremorta - Vertex Membrana (Official Lyric Video)
AGREMORTA
Bosh66· 3 days ago
HAIL SPIRIT NOIR - The Temple Of Curved Space (Official Track Stream)
HAIL SPIRIT NOIR
adg211288· 3 days ago
In Sulfur - The Gate (OFFICIAL VIDEO) 2022
IN SULFUR
Bosh66· 4 days ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed