BENEDICTION — Subconscious Terror (review)

BENEDICTION — Subconscious Terror album cover Album · 1990 · Death Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3/5 ·
UMUR
"Subconscious Terror" is the debut full-length studio album by UK death metal act Benediction. The album was released in September 1990 by Nuclear Blast Records. "Subconscious Terror" was recorded and mixed by Mick Harris (at the time drummer in Napalm Death) and Benediction between September 1989 and January 1990. It´s interesting to note how fast things were going for the young band who had been formed in February 1989. In the time between February 1989 and September 1989 when they started recording "Subconscious Terror", Benediction had drawn the interest of Nuclear Blast Records because of their "The Dreams You Dread" demo tape and inked a deal with the label. All in the course of 8 months. It would take one year further before "Subconscious Terror" was released.

"Subconscious Terror" turned out to be a very succesful release for Benediction, who really put themselves on the UK death metal map with the album. In those days they were ranked among the elite of UK death metal along side acts like Carcass, Napalm Death, Cancer and Bolt Thrower. One of those acts, namely Napalm Death would have a great influence on the future of Benediction though as lead vocalist Mark "Barney" Greenway left Benediction to join Napalm Death as a replacement for Lee Dorian shortly after the release of "Subconscious Terror". Mark "Barney" Greenway was quickly replaced by Dave Ingram who also toured with Benediction in support of the album.

The music on "Subconscious Terror" is raw and simple death metal. This album is as old school as they get. Mark "Barney" Greenway´s growls are deep, brutal and distinct. His performance here is one of the assets of the album. One other great asset on the album is how well the tracks are written. These tracks are memorable and contain tempo changes and brutal hooks. The tempo is mostly kepts mid- to fast paced, so don´t expect this to be an album full of blast beats. The downsides to the album are the relatively weak musicianship (especially the sloppy, awkward and untight drumming by Ian Treacy drags my rating down) and the quite lo-fi, raw and noisy sound production. It sounds like the album was recorded in someone´s garage and the bad sound quality doesn´t always do the tracks justice.

I didn´t use to enjoy "Subconscious Terror" much and while I´ve owned the album around 20 years now my vinyl copy isn´t exactly worn. Lately I´ve been giving the album a chance again though and I´ve found that I enjoy "Subconscious Terror" more now than I did back when I initially purchased the album. I´d say a 3 - 3.5 star (65%) rating is warranted.
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