UMUR
"The Dreams You Dread" is the 4th full-length studio album by UK death metal act Benediction. The album was released through Nuclear Blast Records in August 1995. Benediction had up until then enjoyed great commercial and artistic success (well... in death metal scales) but by the mid-nineties death metal had begun it´s decline in popularity. Benediction soldiered on though and "The Dreams You Dread" is another solid death metal release by the band.
Now I used the word "solid" and did so with intent, because while most of Benediction´s albums are indeed solid death metal releases, few stand out as being more than that. The same is the case with "The Dreams You Dread", which is an enjoyable listen with all the right old school death metal ingredients like deep yet intelligible growls, solid yet not too adventurous drumming and relatively simple riffs, but not much more than that. Sure tracks like the opening "Down on Whores (Leave Them All for Dead)" and "Answer to Me" stand out a bit, but most tracks aren´t that memorable and some, to my ears, are even a bit mediocre. The production is relatively clean considering that this is an old school death metal release but the same can be said about "Transcend the Rubicon (1993)", which was also produced by Paul Johnston and the band, so it´s actually not that surprising.
Overall "The Dreams You Dread" is an above average death metal release but not exactly an excellent one and I guess a 3 - 3.5 star (65%) rating is warranted.