Up from the ashes of the influential Scandinavian hardcore band Selfmindead rose Benea Reach with renewed fire, heart and anger to unleash more intense and aggressive music upon the unsuspecting crowd. Carrying with them the expected hardcore influence, Benea Reach are taking a slightly different direction than the previously mentioned Selfmindead. This is undoubtedly metalized a great deal considering the song-writing and production is geared towards the heavier, more progressive and less simple soundscape that can often be resembled with hardcore. Despite having a number of things in common with the now bashed to death metalcore, these guys manage to keep it intelligent, interesting and blistering enough to not end up in the pool of mediocrity. Although there are some breakdowns, there are no vocal shape-shifting nor uninspired or wannabe shredding solos. Quite on the contrary, this has much more in common with bands such as Meshuggah, which is a band that undoubtedly will end high up on your list of comparisons. Creative and unpredictable riffing that relies much on the musicians’ skills and mindsets colours Monument Bineothan lively and sparkling, and you never know if the music will bounce up and punch you in the face or perhaps crush you with slow doom-ridden strokes, atmospheric keys and fierce vocals that’ll send chills down your spine with every light shriek and deep growl, that are more often than not, perfectly executed.

Despite the numerous twists and turns, this debut does come of as a little unfinished however. A number of the songs seem rather forced, and admittedly, even though I hate to say it, except for the majestic Inheritor and a couple of other tracks very few sounds deliberately dealt with. Nothing here is downright bad, but some of the tunes do come of as a little uninspired and forced. There are times one wonder where the songs are heading, as they’re full of motion and movement yet no clear direction is pointed out. As I said in the first paragraph, the unpredictability can be very exciting, but it’s not always a good thing. However, it’ll take no more than a listen to their brilliant sophomore effort Aleviat to understand that these guys definitely now what they’re doing, and while this isn’t bad at all, it comes of as lackluster compared to that particular one. The potential on Monument Bineothan is great however, and though it might sound weak at times, it is on a whole nother level than generic and shitty stuff like Bullet For My Valentine and others of their kind. It is on the other hand understandable if you’re unwilling to shove them under the same umbrella, as this is not only more mature, but a completely different style than metalcore as we now it. With hints of progressive, death and even black and doom metal at times, they stick out from most other metalcore bands as you’re probably aware of by now.

As you might predict, this comes of as a little varied in quality, and overall a little slippery and messy. That does not mean however, that this isn’t worth picking up. It’s a decent place to start with this band, and though their second album is of higher quality it might be interesting to follow the progress as well as letting their style sink in a little before you grab Aleviat. Songs like Ground Slayer and Inherheritor shouldn’t be missed at any cost, and you might find that the way these guys combine their influences and various styles in nearly every song here rather impressive and maybe a little more interesting than I did. As I mentioned earlier in the review, you should definitely give this one time. You’re most likely not going to embrace this during the first listen, and probably not during the second and third either, but let this sink in however and experience mathcore/metalcore way out of the ordinary. Recommended.