{"id":104715,"date":"2025-04-04T00:00:34","date_gmt":"2025-04-03T23:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=104715"},"modified":"2025-04-10T12:03:25","modified_gmt":"2025-04-10T11:03:25","slug":"album-review-benediction-ravage-of-empires","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-benediction-ravage-of-empires\/","title":{"rendered":"BENEDICTION – Ravage Of Empires (2025) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

BENEDICTION
Ravage Of Empires<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nNuclear Blast (2025)<\/span>
Rating: 7.5\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Has there ever been a steadier band than Benediction? Decades spent in a (to use a football reference) mid-table limbo, the UK death metal mongers comfortably mashed the brains of followers without ever hinting at a push for a (to make another football reference) European place among the elite of the genre. Have Benediction underachieved? Probably. Do they care? Not one iota, and that\u2019s why the combo succeeds in its own domain by playing its audience with a no fucks given savagery.<\/p>\n

As full-length album number nine will attest, Benediction can\u2019t be taught new tricks, so instead they stick \u2013 and to great effect \u2013 to their formula of pulverising riffs, tyrannical drums and Dave Ingram\u2019s grotesque grunts, all of which transport you back to the warm confines of the 90s. All somewhat unremarkable for sure, but as damaging in equal measure as \u2018A Carrion Harvest\u2019 takes off like a possessed bulldozer straight from Stephen King\u2019s Maximum Overdrive<\/em> story. There are elements of thrash n\u2019 groove metal integrated, flashes of Master too with the more familiar death grinds and all boosted by a modern yet suitable production.<\/p>\n

\u2018Beyond The Veil (Of The Grey Mare)\u2019 continues the speed and aggression but also comes streaked with melody as Ingram barks about \u201cThe dead at the window, the living feed\u201d to the hefty kicks of Giovanni Durst\u2019s percussion. There\u2019s certainly no shortage of melody throughout Ravage Of Empires<\/em> as \u2018Deviant Spine\u2019 steadily grinds from the guitar work of Darren Brookes and Peter Rew, both of whom wipe out cities with such formidable strikes. Further examples being the galloping \u2018Crawling Over Corpses\u2019, the more measured \u2018Psychosister\u2019 and \u2018Engines Of War\u2019, plus the speedier \u2018The Finality Of Perpetuation\u2019.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s such a good mixture of tempos here and the way numerous tracks build from strong intros (\u2018Genesis Chamber\u2019) is admirable, where as other songs just hit you immediately with serrated riffs and pummeling rhythms (\u2018Ravage Of Empires\u2019 and \u2018Drought Of Mercy\u2019).<\/p>\n

Again, Ravage Of Empires<\/em> cements Benediction\u2019s place as an ever reliable, consistent and potent breed. I knew what was coming, even after the five year wait, and you can guarantee that the result will be sweaty and bloody once again.<\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BENEDICTIONRavage Of Empires Nuclear Blast (2025)Rating: 7.5\/10 Has there ever been a steadier band than Benediction? Decades spent in a (to use a football reference) mid-table limbo, the UK death metal mongers comfortably mashed the brains of followers without ever hinting at a push for a (to make another football reference) European place among the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,5890],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-104715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-benediction"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104715"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104715\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":104719,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104715\/revisions\/104719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}