Band's List Black Metal Benighted In Sodom Laura Palmer

Time to review more Depressive Black Metal for you and for this review I am taking on Laura Palmer by the band Benighted In Sodom. Just as a side note Laura Palmer is a fictional character on the ABC programme Twin Peaks whose death is a major catalyst for the events of the series. But enough of the back story hows the music?

Unfortunately this is the only release I've actually heard from Benighted In Sodom so I can't compare it to anything else so I'll just go with how I personally feel about the music. This is actually fairly unusual for Depressive Black Metal standards actually, for starters it's depressing but the way in which this feeling is created is different. The intro riff is actually fairly uplifting but that's the beauty of it, there's a bitter irony on display here and it works majestically for this album. Also that intro riff is sick, in the literal meaning of the term it sounds so apathetic and depressing at the same time it's actually sickening. It's consequentially one of the most depressing intros I've ever heard because it's trying to be happy at the same time, I know this probably isn't making much sense but listen to it and you'll see what I mean. The bass in the intro is ridiculously groovy and catchy, I like how it doesn't do the age old trick of following the guitars. Even when the electric guitars kick in the bass isn't drowned out which is unusual for this genre and it's a welcome addition to the release.

The intro riff carries on like this for a while till it reaches the 4 minutes mark and the song changes tone. Being bleaker than that intro riff whilst still being unimaginably depressing. After this section the song slows down a bit with some backing ambient sections and a slow and atonal riff played on the electric guitar. Unfortunately this riff doesn't have as much power as the other riffs and it feels somewhat diluted and stale when compared to them. This section really sort of kills the atmosphere being a bit generic but it still doesn't make it a bad track it's just not as good as what came before it. It feels atmospherically stale which is a massive let down for me. Unfortunately the track goes on like this till the end, which is over half the length of the song. So Laura Palmer doesn't recuperate from this huge dip in quality which is a crying shame especially considering how amazing and unique the intro is.

So what started off as unique and interesting slowly went into a dirge of funeral Black Metal that goes nowhere and doesn't really do anything. I'll never see why some bands choose to ruin a good intro, maybe because they've run out of ideas, I don't know. Laura Palmer starts off good but slowly falls flat on its face.