Dark Is the Season

by

Benediction

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Dark is the Season. This is the release I would recommend to anybody unfamiliar with Benediction. First off, this is only a 25 minute EP. 2 songs are new, 1 cover and 2 studio tracks. "Forged in Fire" is an Anvil cover song and is performed superbly here. I think this is the best powermetal song ever covered by a Deathmetal band. Very heavy crushing guitar sound and excellent vocals by Barney. The standout song however is the title track "Dark is the Season". This song shows Benediction at their best. Check out the amazing, stoned out acoustic guitar outro during the last 2 minutes or so of the song. Reminds me of "Fluff" from Sabbath. This alone makes the CD worth buying!!! The album artwork is also totally killer. If you like old Entombed, Obituary, Celtic Frost, Sabbath you must get this CD! This is Benediction's best release by far

This is a long EP but here is an offering by the band between "The Grand Leveller" and "Transcend the Rubicon". The band at this point still seems to be struggling with album production (this one happens to be mega treble heavy with little mid-range) but the production here is better than the first album. The slow song "Dark is the Season" is long but has many parts to it and doesn't get boring. Both "Jumping at the Shadows" and "Experimental Stage" are different recordings of songs from prior albums (The Grand Leveller and Subconscious Terror). The cover songs are good too.

Even though several of the reviews below have listed the vocalist as Barney Greenway, Dave Ingram is the vocalist here and on every Benediction release except "Subconscious Terror" and the newest "Organised Chaos".

Recommended album if you have the money to throw down on this and have all the other worthy full length Benediction albums of this era.