200 posts already? Damn! I've been busier than I thought I was. I need to do something special. Problem is, I'm not very good at making special occasions. Wait! I got it! I'll do a retrospective of one of my favorite bands: Benighted in Sodom!
In the spring of 2012, Benighted in Sodom broke up after spending 8 years releasing countless albums. This came as quite a shock to me, considering just how much music Matron Thorn has produced. I still remember the time when I first listened to their debut album, Plague Overlord. It was a terrifying monument to agony and despair.
The production fits the mood of the album perfectly. There's a great deal of distortion and the guitars are tuned slightly higher than on most black metal albums. He uses a drum machine, but it's well-programmed and doesn't distract from the music at all. The bass is a low rumbling in the background and gives the rest of the music a meatier quality.
The guitars alternate between slow temolo riffs reminiscent of Burzum and Strid and much faster riffs. As I said before, they're tuned slightly higher than what is standard for black metal, but this makes the atmosphere more depressing and morose. The vocals are quite extraordinary. His primary style is an extremely distorted rasp, but he also performs deep growls when the music demands it. His inner torment bleeds through his performance. I haven't heard black metal vocals this powerful and overwhelming since Pyha.
My favorite song on this album is actually a cover: “Satanic Black Devotion” by Sargeist. I know this sounds like blasphemy, but this version actually sounds better than the original. On the original, the guitars were in a lower tune and the production was of a muffled cloudy sort. On this version, the higher tuning combined with the corrosive distortion and Matron Thorn's terrifying vocals make for one of the most evil and violent performances I've ever heard.
Plague Overlord was the first full-length Benighted in Sodom released, it was the first one I listened to, and it also just happens to be my favorite album in their discography. It was this album that got me hooked on them.
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