Benighted France

"Do you know the old adage that goes like this "when pigs can fly"? Well, maybe they can't fly, but apparently, they've started to sing, and there are plenty of singing pigs on the grindcore, deathcore, deathgrind and brutal death metal scene these days. I am of course referring to the ever so popular pig squealing vocal technique, which Benighted's vocalist makes extensive use of on this album. He basically oinks and squeals his way through the album (accompanying it with metalcore screams and old fashioned growling).

I am sure that a lot of people think that pig sqeualing is oh so cool and empowering, but whenever I hear pig squaling, I always think of the anal rape scene in "Deliverance" (not a very empowering situation that), and I also generally tend to find pig squealing fucking annoying to listen to. It basically sounds stupid to me, and not at all brutal or cool (then again, how can you be brutal when you sound like Ned Beatty being anally raped by a bunch of hillbillies).

So, I have a major beef (or pork, I guess) with the vocals, which really disturb the listening experience for me.

Apart from the stupid vocals, I think that the music that this album has to offer is actually pretty cool. It is aggressive and brutal with loads of blastbeats and insanely fast riffage. The technical level is semi-high, but never too much. In addition to the many blastbeats, there are a lot of metalcore influences on this album and most of the riffage is friggin' awesome on this album (ranging from primitive grinding riffs over technical thrashy and groovy riffs to even some melodic stuff now and then). And the musicianship certainly is top notch, and the productions is well defined and crisp without being too polished.

Recommended to all riff-loving fans of brutal death metal. Had it not been for all those annying pig squals, I would have given this album 4 stars because of the awesome riffage.

(review originally posted on metalmusicarchives.com)"