This, Benedictum's debut, seems to have created a bit of a buzz on the web (all the sites I checked out whilst getting some background on the band seem to rave about it, just Google Benedictum and avoid the religious sites and you'll see what I mean) as yet I'm still not convinced that all the fuss is worth it though.

Sure there's some pretty heavyweight collaborators in the project (Craig Goldy, Jeff Pilson and Tommy Henrikson have all been involved at various stages of the record). There's also no doubting the power of Veronica Freeman's vocals or the musicianship displayed throughout either, its just that, as a whole, the record seems to be lacking in inventiveness evoking memories of classic power metal in the mould of Savatage and Armored Saint.

This overall feeling is not helped by the choice of covers showing a distinct lack of imagination (both from the Dio era of Black Sabbath) although apparently "Mob Rules" will only appear on some formats of the disc. There are some moments of interest, its not often you get songs with lyrical themes like "Wicca" and "Misogyny" for instance (dealing with the persecution of pagan religion and attitudes towards women respectively).

I must take this opportunity to question the potential hypocrisy at play when Freeman sings about the mistreatment of women and the attitudes of certain male sections of society towards them when a quick glance at the bands official website (www.benedictum.net) reveals a whole page of "glamourised" shots of her intended, presumably, to appeal to the male gender at a level that would not take account of a woman's personality, feelings or intellect, the very things you would have thought she would be at pains to avoid??

That said though Benedictum are certainly an interesting "one to watch", it will be intriguing to see how the band progress from this record and to see if they can build upon their collective strengths (strong musicianship, powerful vocals) to deliver a truly exciting record rather than a well executed but average one

Let us know your views on 'Uncreation'

Track List

Uncreation
Benedictum
#4
Misogyny
Ashes To Ashes
Wicca
Heaven And Hell
Them
Two Steps To The Sun
Valkyrie Rising
The Mob Rules

Line Up

Veronica Freeman - vocals
Pete Wells - guitars
Chris Morgan - keyboards
Blackie Sanchez - drums
Jesse Wright- bass