Locomotive
2008
1. Dawn of Seasons (Intro)
2. Shell Shock
3. Burn it Out
4. Bare Bones
5. Within the Solace
6. Beast in the Field
7. Legacy
8. Nobodies Victim
9. Balls to the Wall
10. Steel Rain
11. Seasons of Tragedy
Benedictum were a pleasant surprise out of nowhere back in '06 when I reviewed their debut and now I'm pleased to have gotten a hold of their sophomore release Seasons Of Tragedy. New blood in the metal scene is always exciting... leaving one wondering who will be the next band to climb to recognition in the metal scene.
Seasons Of Tragedy sounds a little more polished to me than the last, but basically follows the same trend of a mix of up tempo and groove stuff with shouted, forceful female vocals that give the band a nice vibe of heaviness and attitude. One thing Benedictum has is nice heavy and not cliched or over the top sound that could potentially be more appealing than happy power metal or hail satan black mail to the average music listener. This sort of energized heavy rock sound has a sort of universal appeal if anyone ever decides to give them a chance in a more commercial market. Unlikely, but ya never know.
I do have a couple nitpicks about this album that I've gotta get out there on the negative side. One would be that some tracks just seem to miss and/or drag on well past their stay. An example of both would be Bare Bones with it's notably 'bare bones' riffs which chug their way along to boredom while the vocals make me wish I never hear the words bare bones ever again they're repeated so many times. That song overstays it's welcome big time and speaking of that I just have to mention the other length nitpick which is the title track. Not a bad song in and of itself for the first half or so, it just starts to drag and there is absolutely no reason it had to take up over 11 minutes. Benedictum are not the sort of band I picture as needing long, epic tracks. This is not fantasy power metal folks.
On the plus side is the sheer rip your head off, pounding heaviness of Beast In The Field which is a massive sounding headbanger. If anyone is reading... more of this please. The band seems to be at their best when they don't get bogged down in groove and instead rip ahead all cylinders firing and this and Shell Shock are fine examples which mark the highlights.
In conclusion, Seasons Of Tragedy is a pretty decent follow up with a couple spots of boredom that drag down the end result a bit. I'd still say this is worth a listen, if slightly down in overall quality from the debut. The highlights of the album kinda balance that out and once again the cover done here, Balls To The Wall, would make the original band proud... much like they did before with Black Sabbath.
Highlights: Beast In The Field, Shellshock
Rating - 3.0/5
2. Shell Shock
3. Burn it Out
4. Bare Bones
5. Within the Solace
6. Beast in the Field
7. Legacy
8. Nobodies Victim
9. Balls to the Wall
10. Steel Rain
11. Seasons of Tragedy
Benedictum were a pleasant surprise out of nowhere back in '06 when I reviewed their debut and now I'm pleased to have gotten a hold of their sophomore release Seasons Of Tragedy. New blood in the metal scene is always exciting... leaving one wondering who will be the next band to climb to recognition in the metal scene.
Seasons Of Tragedy sounds a little more polished to me than the last, but basically follows the same trend of a mix of up tempo and groove stuff with shouted, forceful female vocals that give the band a nice vibe of heaviness and attitude. One thing Benedictum has is nice heavy and not cliched or over the top sound that could potentially be more appealing than happy power metal or hail satan black mail to the average music listener. This sort of energized heavy rock sound has a sort of universal appeal if anyone ever decides to give them a chance in a more commercial market. Unlikely, but ya never know.
I do have a couple nitpicks about this album that I've gotta get out there on the negative side. One would be that some tracks just seem to miss and/or drag on well past their stay. An example of both would be Bare Bones with it's notably 'bare bones' riffs which chug their way along to boredom while the vocals make me wish I never hear the words bare bones ever again they're repeated so many times. That song overstays it's welcome big time and speaking of that I just have to mention the other length nitpick which is the title track. Not a bad song in and of itself for the first half or so, it just starts to drag and there is absolutely no reason it had to take up over 11 minutes. Benedictum are not the sort of band I picture as needing long, epic tracks. This is not fantasy power metal folks.
On the plus side is the sheer rip your head off, pounding heaviness of Beast In The Field which is a massive sounding headbanger. If anyone is reading... more of this please. The band seems to be at their best when they don't get bogged down in groove and instead rip ahead all cylinders firing and this and Shell Shock are fine examples which mark the highlights.
In conclusion, Seasons Of Tragedy is a pretty decent follow up with a couple spots of boredom that drag down the end result a bit. I'd still say this is worth a listen, if slightly down in overall quality from the debut. The highlights of the album kinda balance that out and once again the cover done here, Balls To The Wall, would make the original band proud... much like they did before with Black Sabbath.
Highlights: Beast In The Field, Shellshock
Rating - 3.0/5
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