BENIGHTED – Ekbom

RELEASE YEAR: 2024

BAND URL: https://www.benighted.fr/

The French purveyors of (currently) death metal grindcore have been around since the dusk of the last century but are getting only tighter and better as if in spite of their name, Benighted, which means “pitifully ignorant or in a state of contemptible intellectual or moral ignorance” or “overtaken by darkness”. While both of those meanings could especially apply in a spiritual realm, I suspect, given the genre at hand, probably the latter was meant by the band, especially with regard to their beginnings. Having started as a black metal band on their eponymous ²⁰⁰⁰ debut, they moved on to brutal death metal on the subsequent Psychose²⁰⁰², Insane Cephalic Production²⁰⁰⁴ and, then grindcore and deathcore from Identisick²⁰⁰⁶ onward, that is, Icon²⁰⁰⁷, Asylum Cave²⁰¹¹ (my point of entry into their catalogue reviewed HERE by Robin Syrvensen,) Carnivore Sublime²⁰¹⁴, Necrobreed²⁰¹⁷ and, released just in time for the start of the global pandemic, Obscene Repressed²⁰²⁰, so the 10th full length, Ekbom²⁰²⁴, released on April 12th via Season Of Mist, is a natural progression, on one hand, and a more melodic and catchier affair than at any time before, on the other, a very good overall and sometimes fantastic display of songwriting, novel (for a genre) ideas and almost consistently infectious sounds and slight genre crossings (most notably in the Demonic¹⁹⁹⁷ Testament gang-shouted chorus of “Morgue”.)

It’s all thanks to frontman’s and the only remaining founder’s Julien Truchan in terms of both fantastic and multifaceted vocals and his day job. As a psychiatric hospital worker, he has an abundant supply of lyrical and conceptual inspiration, such the one behind Ekbom²⁰²⁴ – a rare neurological disorder called delusional parasitosis also known as Ekbom’s Syndrome, where you are accutely tortured by feelings of having a vile concoction of parasites, worms, and insects crawling under your skin. Take the excellent ending conclusive “Mother Earth, Mother Whore” (which recalls Aborted’s “Global Flatline”) where, presumably, a psychiatrist narrates a case of a female patient who “presents a psychotic crisis with a delirium centered on her body…has visual hallucinations that evoke Ekbom’s syndrome…sees insects running on and under her skin…tried to cut herself several times to get them out…tells us that the enemy is inside, that it’s always inside…maybe unconsciously referring to her mother’s cancer, whom she cared for until the end…talks about a dark man who is present in every room she enters” who “stands still, looks at her” and whom “she doesn’t describe…as a threat” since he “just smiles as soon as she starts cutting herself.” Have a good night at the ward, everyone!

I mentioned Aborted and Benighted’2024 is very similar in stylings in the way they can go from an ultrabrutal to very catchy sequence with keyboard melodies not a few. True, the album was excellently and selectively produced and mixed by Kristian Kohlmannslehner, who had produced Benighted’s Insane Cephalic Production²⁰⁰⁴, Agathodaimon’s In Darkness²⁰¹³ and Aborted’s three consecutive albums before Vault Of Horrors²⁰²⁴ (produced by Dave Otero,) so it’s obvious the influence was going to seep in, down to the Swen Caluve-ian vokills. However, that aspect in no way either ditracts from the listening pleasure nor has influenced my score. It must be said that Truchan, Emmanuel Dalle (2014-guitars,) Pierre Arnoux (2014-bass, backing vocals) and Kévin Paradis (2017-drums) comprise a well-oiled deadly machine, especially on favorites such as “Scars”, “Morgue” and “Le Vice Des Entrailles (The Faults Of The Entrails)”, the three consecutive opening tracks proper or the High On Fiery “Metastasis”, or probably the most memorable, title track which combines Meshuggaic machinery and precision with Lamb Of Godly catchiness of Ashes Of The Wake²⁰⁰⁴ or Sacrament²⁰⁰⁶.

What’s rather unusual for an album of grindcorized brutal death metal is how the first half (i.e. the first 6 cuts) is clearly superior to the second, and that despite both, the somewhat unnecessary typical gore metal opening intro “Prodome” (with the mandatory creepy “do iiiiiiit!” an excuse for a transition into the first song proper) and the comparatively inferior “Nothing Left to Fear”. Sure, the aforementioned “Metastasis” does carry over the excellence well but then the album becomes a standard grindcore affair until the Roots¹⁹⁹⁶ Sepultura or early Soulflying “Scapegoat” saves me from falling into an untimely stupor whilst inspiring the final score.