BENEDICTION — Grind Bastard (review)

BENEDICTION — Grind Bastard album cover Album · 1998 · Death Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
UMUR
"Grind Bastard" is the 5th full-length studio album by UK death metal act Benediction. The album was released through Nuclear Blast Records in May 1998. By this time the popularity of death metal had declined severely but judging by the content of "Grind Bastard", Benediction couldn´t care less.

The music on the album is the trademark old school death metal that Benediction have played since day one although there is an added groove element (something that was already introduced on "The Dreams You Dread (1995)") that at the time probably gave the album a more contemporary sound. It´s not a groove element that makes the music groove metal or anything like that, but it´s there and it works really well. Take a listen to what the groove element does for a track like "Agonised". Wow...what a kick in the ass. The album features both a Judas Priest cover and a Twisted Sister cover, and although they are pretty good for the variation of the album, it´s not like I couldn´t have done without them. If you have the digipack version of the album there is also a cover of an Anti-Nowhere League punk track as an added bonus. Without the bonus track the 13 track album is still 58:48 minutes long and that´s a bit too long for it´s own good. While tracks like "Deadfall", the above mentioned "Agonised", the closing track "I" and the great title track are quality death metal to my ears, there are some filler material on the album too and the band could easily have cut three to four tracks from the album and it would have made it a more consistently great release.

The musicianship is on a high level and everything is delivered with precision albeit with a human touch (drummer Neil Hutton deserves a special mention for his great playing on the album). The sound production is really strong too and brings out the best in the music. Besides a running time that´s a bit too long for comfort, "Grind Bastard" is a quality death metal release from a death metal hostile time and Benediction deserve praise for holding the flag high, when others gave into the pressure and either folded or changed their sound significantly. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.
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