Benea Reach - Possession

When I first heard Alleviat, I fell in love with Benea Reach. The band might not be setting a trail of fire with a fresh new brand of metalcore but the european metal influence in modern metalcore isn't a sound you get to often and Alleviat reminded me a ton of Selfmindead and Refused.

I was stoked to finally get Possession and give it a spin.

Woodland hits with a similar intensity that Awakening kicked off Alleviat but there's instantly something different about Possession. The song feels more ambient, less compressed. It's has a slightly airy feel to it that's gives it more depth. Don't get me wrong, Woodland is still smack you in the face, knockout heavy. But I wouldn't be doing the track any favors if I didn't mention the dynamic elements.

The Mountain triggers a thought in my head, this record has a lot of similar elements to Extol's The Bluprint Dives. Which is a good thing. Desolate has some great male and female clean vocals that create a beautiful dynamic shift without any tension. Empire is one of my favorite tracks on the record. Beautifully haunting melody and with a killer riff driving the hook.

Possession has more dynamic range and diversity than Alleviat. Alleviat was this great brutal assault with killer metal riffs and went 100 miles per hour the whole record. Possession features a lot more ambient riffs, soaring clean vocals, cleaner screams, acoustic guitars and great dynamics. The record is still super heavy but the diversity opens the songs up and creates a more interesting listen. Benea Reach has given us a great record that was worth the (not too long of a) wait.