Tracks
1.Evolve
2. Shreds
3. Personae

Band:
Johan Samuelsson - Vocals
Joel Nilsson - Guitar
Christoffer Norén - Guitar
Robin Halldin - Bass
Niklas Sandell - Drums

Discography:
debut

Guests:

Info

Released 2010-08-31
Reviewed 2010-11-10

Links:
myspace
deadtreemusic

A new record from Dead Tree Music, last time out it was the very good EP by Solitude and now it is another EP, this time from a band called Benevolent with the title Evolve. It is an album with a white front with what looks like an unfinished sketch of an angel and with a dark backside with three song titles that is not the easiest to read cause the melt into the black of the backside. Not that the look of the cover matters much but they do not say that much either in this case.

Musically it is heavy and extreme with growling vocals and heavy stuff. However, there are some lighter tones and the band seem a bit focused on good melodies as well, there are also some clean vocals on the album. There are three songs on the album and the time it takes to play it is about seventeen minutes.

These three songs can either be an advantage for the impression of the record on me as a listener, it can either be positive in case there are some great songs or negative in case there aren’t. The answer is somewhere in the middle when we comes to this EP, the songs are decent on this album and none of them stand out, just a solid collection of songs.

This can be a bit troublesome as I listen to music for about eight hours a day at least. Mostly for review purposes but also some albums I like and return to, this makes it easy for me to pinpoint good or bad records and also the ones that does not say much. Benevolent’s Evolve is one of these records that does not really say much to me, it sort of drowns in the rest of the music in my iPod.

The problem for Benevolent is not that their songs are bad, they are quite good but the real hit song is missing and with such a short album that means that there is no real focal point of the album and it becomes more of a parenthesis in the bigger picture. Had there been more songs, like a complete album I am sure this would have been really good, now it is just good, decent I may even say.

I find it hard to say much more about this, it is dark and powerful, it has decent songs and is overall very well made but it also lacks a genuine focal point which makes it rather unnecessary on my part as there are much more interesting albums and EPs out there. For the fans of the genre I am sure this is really great, for me this album is finished now.

HHHHHHH

Label - Dead Tree Music
Three similar bands - Meshuggah/Mastodon/The Haunted
Rating: HHHHHHH
Reviewer: Daniel Källmalm