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BENEDICTION
Ravage Of Empires

Nuclear Blast (2025)
Rating: 7.5/10

Has there ever been a steadier band than Benediction? Decades spent in a (to use a football reference) mid-table limbo, the UK death metal mongers comfortably mashed the brains of followers without ever hinting at a push for a (to make another football reference) European place among the elite of the genre. Have Benediction underachieved? Probably. Do they care? Not one iota, and that’s why the combo succeeds in its own domain by playing its audience with a no fucks given savagery.

As full-length album number nine will attest, Benediction can’t be taught new tricks, so instead they stick – and to great effect – to their formula of pulverising riffs, tyrannical drums and Dave Ingram’s grotesque grunts, all of which transport you back to the warm confines of the 90s. All somewhat unremarkable for sure, but as damaging in equal measure as ‘A Carrion Harvest’ takes off like a possessed bulldozer straight from Stephen King’s Maximum Overdrive story. There are elements of thrash n’ groove metal integrated, flashes of Master too with the more familiar death grinds and all boosted by a modern yet suitable production.

‘Beyond The Veil (Of The Grey Mare)’ continues the speed and aggression but also comes streaked with melody as Ingram barks about “The dead at the window, the living feed” to the hefty kicks of Giovanni Durst’s percussion. There’s certainly no shortage of melody throughout Ravage Of Empires as ‘Deviant Spine’ steadily grinds from the guitar work of Darren Brookes and Peter Rew, both of whom wipe out cities with such formidable strikes. Further examples being the galloping ‘Crawling Over Corpses’, the more measured ‘Psychosister’ and ‘Engines Of War’, plus the speedier ‘The Finality Of Perpetuation’.

There’s such a good mixture of tempos here and the way numerous tracks build from strong intros (‘Genesis Chamber’) is admirable, where as other songs just hit you immediately with serrated riffs and pummeling rhythms (‘Ravage Of Empires’ and ‘Drought Of Mercy’).

Again, Ravage Of Empires cements Benediction’s place as an ever reliable, consistent and potent breed. I knew what was coming, even after the five year wait, and you can guarantee that the result will be sweaty and bloody once again.

Neil Arnold

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