Benighted – Obscene Repressed (Review)

This is the ninth album from French death metallers Benighted.

Both 2017’s Necrobreed and 2018’s Dogs Always Bite Harder than Their Master were enjoyably brutal, so Obscene Repressed promises much, and delivers too.

Benighted do what they do best on Obscene Repressed, which is provide a feast of brutal death metal flavoured with sprinklings of grind. This is an energetic collection of intense and punishing songs, written with fanatical precision and zealous commitment to the cause of deathgrind.

Grooving death metal muscle, crushing rhythmic riffs, and blistering hyper-speed blasting make for songs that are firmly only for fans of such ugly brutality. There’s more of a grindcore influence on Obscene Repressed than there was on Necrobreed, and this seems to suit the band well. The band also throw in moments of melody and experimentation, as well as some guest slots, but overall it’s a thoroughly mercilessly barbaric affair.

This is the sort of solid, well-performed and delivered deathgrind that should be more than enough to satisfy fans of this type of violent aggression. Benighted know their grisly work well, and Obscene Repressed is an enjoyable slab of professional nastiness.