There could be disadvantages in progression, but surely also in stagnation. 'Organized Chaos' is Benediction's sixth album in their over 10 year career. Considering that theoretically they still play same style of music, that they already did on their debut album 'Subconscious Terror' (1990), Benediction succeed in stagnation. I take it more as "staying loyal to your fans" type ideology. Just like Bolt Thrower, the other well-known British death metal legend.

Benediction deliver death metal, which is affluent with riffs, not technicality or total brutality. There's not much (if any) soloing on this record. Every metal freak should know the power of a riff! If you don't like some riff, then wait for the next one, because you might love it! This happened to me with some of these songs... Some of them are a bit long, but I never got bored during listening to this. The duration is almost 54 minutes, but the album does not stall at any point; these stalwarts know how to let it roll. A lot of hacking riffage is heard, as usual. It's not about loose jamming, right?!?!

This is not totally old school stuff, though. Whereas the title track reeks of true old Benediction, 'The Temple of Set' and 'Charon', for example, are even more straight hardcore metal assaults. Slayer and The Haunted keep coming to my mind while listening this album, but it's still Benediction. 'Diary...' sound more like Pissing Razors mixed with Pantera, but happens to be a good song. 'Easy Way to Die' is surprisingly melodic by Benediction standards, but nonetheless, a great metal song. And let's not forget that punk/crust influence the band had... It's not forgotten.

The lyrics are about killers (there's that The Haunted connection partly explained), church (of Satan), drugs and other well-known crap of human life itself. This kind of summarises it all:

"And so we stand in the light of a new dawn
Nuclear fires scorching the horizon
The time ahead become a time of rebirth
To recreate man in the image of man"

New throat-mangler Dave Hunt bring new energy to the band's attack. Old vocalist Dave Ingram left to Bolt Thrower and sounded weaker than Mr. Hunt, who has more hardcore-style approach to his vocalisation. Sometimes the new guy gives growling and spoken vocals too, which all spice it up. Still, he does not carry a very strong voice, but it definitely isn't weak.

The Andy Sneap production job is modern, but still very simple; audible instruments with that certain raw edge to everything. The ancient-sounding guitars don't bite as rigidly as wanted, but the bass comes to save a lot. And I love that tight snare drum sound! By the way, this is more like mid-paces death with some double bass drum attack. Drummer Neil Hutton's style is "airy", but still he makes it pounding. Drumming is like making love to a beautiful woman: Sometimes you nail it deep and hard, sometimes you more like tease around a bit. Generally put, it breathes, but does not destroy.

This is a good English death metal record; not their best one, but definitely not the worst either. Definitely nothing ground-breaking (or maybe these days it is!), but simply a good slab of old school stuff. This tastes the best when consumed in shorter portions. Hail the riff!!! Or RIFFS, as I should put it...

Rating: 7½ (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
05/23/2002 18:54