British death metal act Benediction recently released their first album in seven years, Killing Music on Nuclear Blast/Riot. Although this seems like quite a stretch, for the band it didn’t actually feel like the eons it probably did to their fans. Part of the reason for this is that they lost their drummer, Neil Hutton, and didn’t replace him for quite some time. Then Nik Barker joined the Benediction ranks until his work with Testament started to clash too much for it to be worthwhile. Now, Hutton is back amongst the Benediction lads, and that’s when things started to roll on again.
Happily, it appears that Killing Music looks set to turn the tide on the dearth of the band’s releases.
‘We’ve already started working on new stuff,’ commented Daz Brookes, the band’s guitarist. ‘It’s soundin’ good, too.’
Brookes has been with Benediction since their formation year: 1989. As a consequence of that, he’s fairly well stuck in the ‘80s in terms of the music that he listens to, commenting that the ‘new stuff don’t hit me like it did in the ‘80s and ‘90s’.
Flowing on from this is the way that Benediction write their music, and why they write music of the style that they do.
‘It’s about how it feels for us,’ Brookes explained. ‘We don’t write music for music’s sake. There are many great musicians struggle to come up with a great song, and there are many average musicians can write a classic. Speed for speed’s sake is boring. We refuse to use blast beats because everyone did it for the sake of it. Boring.’
Brookes is the primary writer for the band, who does most of it at home thanks to what technology now offers. It’s only after that that they jam it up.
‘This in turn inspires ideas from the others, especially Frank [bassist], and he then hits me with new stuff to work with,’ Brookes stated. ‘This time we recorded in Birmingham with Mick Kenney – a close friend – so it was easier in terms of environment. But we was so up for it, it was a breeze.’
There are a few guests that appear on the release, including Billy (of Faith No More ), Kelly (of Atheist ) and a few others. But it turned out that most of the guest appearances came together through having beers together.
‘We met Billy at one of our shows in Bulgaria. He was a real fan, reeling off song titles n’ all. We agreed to do something together then. We’ve known Kelly since they [Atheist] supported us across Europe in ‘93 and had recently seen Atheist play in England. Karl is a drinkin’ buddy from our home town, as is Jock [GBH]. There was no specific strategy or plan, just ideas over a beer.’
Given that the band has a huge history, and a long discography – seven full-length albums, several splits and several more EPs – I asked Brookes what their most underrated project was.
‘I think we are underrated as a band anyway,’ he replied bluntly. ‘We’re an honest, hard-workin’ band as has been proved when this scene began to struggle, and everyone jumped ship only to clamber back on to a hero’s welcome now it’s on the up again. F-ks me off!’
The band are presently asking the question of whether they can get to Australia, but they are clearly reliant on local promoters to help out.
‘We would love to come down to play for you guys,’ emphasised Brookes enthusiastically. ‘We are askin’ the question now, but anyone that can help: please!’
To those out there who are Benediction fans, Brookes had this to say:
‘Just a big thank you. Without you, people like me coul dnot do what we do. We hope to play for ya soon. Thanks again, keep the scene alive. It’s our scene.’
Benediction’s Killing Music is out now on Nuclear Blast/Riot.
