For 20 years now, France’s Benighted have been delivering blistering grinding death metal of the highest order. I first heard them on 2004s Insane Cephalic Production, and and last hear them on 2017s Necrobreed. And as I stated in that review, Benighted continue to be the illegitimate, bastard child of Cephalic Carnage, Cattle Decapitation, Despised Icon and Aborted.

Even with only one lone remaining original member  (vocalist Julien Truchan), you’d be hard pressed to tell, as the album continues the band’s consistently solid sound with expected tightness, brutality and now even a concept based around physical deformities, Oedipal issues and abuse (based on Truchan’s experiences working at a mental health facility).

The swiftly vicious, 38 minute album delivers everything Benighted has perfected over 20 years; razor sharp grinding riffs (“Implore the Negative”, “Muzzle”),  and hacking (literally) gurgling, bludgeoning death metal (“Casual Piece of Meat”, standout “Mom, I Love You the Wrong Way”, “Undivided Dismemberment”, “Scarecrow”). All of it tightly wound, savagely played and brutally satisfying.

There’s nothing experimental or unexpected, no curve-balls or surprises. Only closer “Bound to a Facial Plague”  adds a little bit of off the wall stuttering and pacing. Other wise it’s short sharp punches to the face, armed with a Kristian Kohlmannslehnern (Aborted, Leng T’che) production that’s suitably beefy and brutal for yet another  beefy and brutal record from Benighted.

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