Review by Daniel for Benediction - Transcend the Rubicon (1993)

I spent a fair bit time with English death metallers Benediction’s 1991 sophomore album “The grand Leveller” after purchasing it on cassette shortly after release. In fact, I’d suggest that I probably spent a little more time than was warranted if I’m being honest, perhaps due to the fact that I’d parted ways with my hard-earned cash for it. I did quite like it though & felt that it was an improvement on their 1990 debut album “Subconscious Terror” which I also have some time for. In saying that though, I did still think of Benediction as a third tier death metal band & I’d suggest that this is the reason that I didn’t run out & buy their 1993 third album “Transcend the Rubicon” upon release, instead opting to seek it out through the tape trading scene as I had with their 1992 “Dark is the Season” EP. I remember “Transcend the Rubicon” quite fondly but I don’t think it changed my preconceived position on Benediction as an artist. I have seen a few people saying that it’s their best full-length recently though so I thought I’d give it another shot.

Benediction are the very definition of the meat-&-potatoes death metal band in my opinion. Their music is very simple yet goes to great lengths to maintain the genre’s trademark graveyard atmosphere. I’ve always thought that Benediction lacked the class & sophistication of the big names though & “Transcend the Rubicon” won’t change any of those impressions. What we receive here is pretty much “The Grand Leveller Part II” with few attempts being made at altering the band’s pre-existing formula. There are perhaps a few more thrashy parts included if you look closely, particularly on the unapologetic death/thrash number “Wrong Side of the Grave”, but the bulk of this material could just as easily have been found on Benediction’s previous album. I don’t think “Transcend the Rubicon” can boast as deathly an atmosphere as its predecessor though although I’d probably need to play the two records back-to-back to confirm that.

The only lineup change on “Transcend the Rubicon” is the addition of former Cerebral Fix/Sacrilege & future Memoriam bassist Frank Healy who comes in to replace another former Cerebral Fix member in Paul Adams who had departed after “The Grand Leveller”. This doesn’t make all that big an impact on the Benediction sound though & if you can imagine the simple song-writing & riff construction of Cancer performed with the heavy, uncluttered sound of Bolt Thrower & topped off with the vocal performance of 1990’s Napalm Death then you’ll come pretty close to understanding what’s in store for you. It’s really pretty uncanny how much front man & future Bolt Thrower & Hail of Bullets vocalist Dave Ingram sounds like Benediction’s former front man Mark “Barney” Greenway here & if I didn’t already know of Barney’s absence then I’d swear it was him. Ingram’s performance is admittedly one of the best parts of the album though so this isn’t in any way a negative thing.

The record kicks off with arguably it’s best song in the very solid “Unfound Mortality” but things rarely reach that level again with only the equally effective “Face Without Soul” competing for top honours. There aren’t any genuine classics to be found in this particular tracklisting but there are a few flat moments. Thankfully the wins outweigh the losses pretty comfortably which leaves us with another generally fun Benediction album that won’t change many lives but will rarely disappoint your average fan of the old-school death metal sound. I can’t agree with the general consensus that “Transcend the Rubicon” is Benediction’s best full-length though as I’ve found myself reaching for “The Grand Leveller” a bit more regularly over the years.

For fans of Bolt Thrower, Cancer & 1990's Napalm Death.