BENEDICTION — Dark Is the Season (review)

BENEDICTION — Dark Is the Season album cover EP · 1992 · Death Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
UMUR
"Dark Is the Season" is an EP release by UK death metal act Benediction. The EP was released in October 1992 by Nuclear Blast Records to fill out the time gap between the the band´s 2nd and 3rd full-length studio albums "The Grand Leveller (1991)" and "Transcend the Rubicon (1993)". Benediction didn´t lie low in the early nineties but rather stroke while the iron was hot and with great success. Because of extensive touring with the likes of Dismember, Asphyx and Bolt Thrower, Benediction didn´t have time to complete a full-length release but between touring activities they did find time in December 1991 to record 4 out of the 5 tracks on "Dark Is the Season".

The music on the EP is old school death metal. Deep intelligeble growling vocals, simple, catchy and brutal riffing and some decent musicianship. The tracks "Foetus Noose" (the band made a video for this track) and "Dark Is the Season" are new original compositions. Especially the morbid doomy nature of the latter is something that I greatly enjoy. The sound production and the compositional style of the two new tracks are very similar to the production and the compositional style on "The Grand Leveller" and could easily have fit on that album. "Forged in Fire" is a cover of the Anvil classic and seldom has a death metal cover sounded this great. I´m sure good old Steve "Lips" Kudlow would be proud if he heard the result. The EP also includes "Jumping at Shadows" from "The Grand Leveller" but while the track is arguably one of the highlights of that album, it´s inclusion on this EP doesn´t add much value unless you don´t own "The Grand Leveller". The last track on the album is a re-recorded version of "Experimental Stage" from "Subconscious Terror (1990)". The original version of course featured original Benediction frontman Mark "Barney" Greenway (Napalm Death) on vocals while this re-recorded version features Dave Ingram. Besides the fact that it´s a great death metal track and that there is a better sound quality than on the original version, it´s not one of the highlights on the EP.

"Dark Is the Season" is a pretty good EP release by Benediction and definitely a worthy purchase to fans of the band. 24:57 minutes of playing time ensures that there is not only quality here but also quantity (even though "Jumping at Shadows" takes up 6:04 of those minutes) to those who crave that before they will spend money on an EP. A 3.5 - 4 star (75%) rating is well deserved.
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