BENEDICTUM
Uncreation
Locomotive Records 2006
www.benedictum.net

What’s the 4-1-1?
The debut album from the San Diego based power metal band fronted by Veronica Freeman cuts loose with their brand of hard and heavy metal.

Genre
Heavy metal / power metal

The Good
The music on Uncreation is uniformly excellent. The guitar work from Pete Wells rises above a lot of current work out there. I thought the band did an excellent job on the two Black Sabbath covers. They took both “Heaven and Hell” and “The Mob Rules” and gave them their own spin while retaining what made the songs classic tracks in the first place.

Singer Veronica Freeman shined on those two songs as well as “Ashes To Ashes,” and “Wicca.” The other song worth mentioning is “Them.” It’s a straightforward metal song that just kicks you in the teeth. It also features a lyrical line spouted by Freeman that while the sentiment is spot on, still gives the listener a slight chuckle. (I can’t print it here since we strive to keep the reviews as clean as possible.)

The Bad
As good as Freeman was on the 5 songs I mentioned above, the other six tracks are just not cutting it with me. The first four songs on the CD include the two tracks that have been getting the most publicity, “Benedictum” and “Misogyny.” However, all four songs strike me as the band trying to find their footing combining the metal music with Freeman’s vocals. When listening to those 6 songs, I felt like I was listening to a singer having all the lung capacity in the world trying almost in vain to rein in that power. It did not make for pleasurable listening. While I am not opposed to keyboards in power metal, there were a few spots in certain songs where the keyboard passages where simply shoehorned into the mix. They were completely out of place in my opinion.

The Verdict
While I enjoyed the music on Uncreation, I think that this is merely an adequate album overall. I think the band has potential, but songs need to be more than just notes and screaming vocals. There has to be a real personality to the tracks and the band in order for a CD to really make that connection with listeners. This CD had some very good moments, but I have to say that I felt disconnected from it for a majority of the songs.

Did You Know?
The ex-Dokken bassist Jeff Pilson produced the album. He was assisted in the mixing of the CD by ex-Warlock bassist Tommy Henriksen. Dio guitarist Craig Goldy makes a guest appearance on the track “Valkyrie Rising.”

Rating: out of 5

-- Jay Roberts