Benediction – Organized Chaos – Review

Benediction

Organized Chaos (Nuclear Blast)
by Tim Den

My love/hate relationship with Benediction continues. Love cuz I’ve been a fan since their debut, hate cuz they’ve been stagnant now for over half a decade (starting with The Dreams You Dread). Organized Chaos features a new vocalist (the band’s third), but he ain’t helpin’. Sure, he’s more animated and hungrier than his predecessor, Dave Ingram, but he tries too hard to sound tough and sometimes comes off as a Pantera/The Haunted rip-off (“Diary of a Killer” is the album’s most embarrassing, nü metal moment). Not to mention that he’s taken to name-dropping the band’s past works in his lyrics… bad attempt at winning over the old crowd, dude. It’s just plain cheesy.

But I guess it fits, cuz Organized Chaos is just cheesy more than anything else. Gone are the skewed melodies of The Grand Leveller and Transcend the Rubicon (their best). In their place are subpar “traditional” metal “groove” riffs that sound contrived and interchangeable. In fact, I dare say Organized Chaos is the band’s least memorable album… cuz every song sounds the same! And what’s with writing six-minute songs that sound as inventive as Blaze-era Maiden and as dynamically flexible as rigor mortis? If it wasn’t for drummer Neil Hutton – who has been the saving grace of Benediction for the past three albums – Organized Chaos would sound like the songwriting results of a high school band. Just the “Planet Caravan” rip-off opening of “Easy Way to Die” tells you that. What a shame. I thought Grind Bastards hinted at greener pastures, but instead the fans only got the fertilizer.
(2323 W. El Segundo Blvd. Hawthorne, CA 90250)