Hails, who am I speaking with and what you do in
the band?
Hello! Here’s Julien, vocalist of the band.
You guys have been around for a long time now,
what do you account for your change in style, and how do you like the
progression?
Our musical evolution have been made in a very natural way, trying from an
album to another to go farer in brutality and efficiency. Our different
influences have helped us to make a solid identity around a brutal death
style, with a mix of extreme kinds of metal. Black metal which was more
present on our firsts albums has quite disappeared from our actual music for
example. Today grindcore or hardcore are more important as influences in our
songs. Our music has to be brutal and groovy before all, and it’s a real
pleasure for us to play our tracks on stage.
I love your style of brutal death metal and the
fact that you can be groovy and have fun with it as well, how have you been
perceived doing/changing this style?
We really like to surprise with our music, and each song has to be easily
recognizable in an album. We experiment everything which can be interesting
and according to the Benighted music identity, like a schizophrenic paranoid
delirium can be. Our fans have perfectly understood our musical evolution
and followed us in our way to play brutal music which can’t be reduced to a
single style.
Your newest album, Icon, is absolutely
amazing, it isn't too much different from Identisick, just a little more
creative and polished! How was the writing process and how do you feel about
the tracks?
Thank you for the compliment! We are very proud of this album! It was
composed as the others. One member gives the riffs and ideas he was thinking
about, and we work all together to create structure, arrangements, breaks
until the result satisfied us at 100%. The most interesting in our
composition process is that everybody gives his ideas and as we haven’t the
same musical tastes and influences, we often find rich and original things
to put in our tracks.
How are the new songs perceived by a live
audience? How do the fans react?
Our tracks are made for stage before all, and most of time, the reactions
are very positive! The pit and the stage are in fury! That’s why we play
this music! We want to give and receive all the possible energy with our
fans!
How is the scene in France right now?
It’s growing every day with great bands like Kronos, Gojira, Sublime
Cadaveric Decomposition, Destinity, Blockheads, Hacride,… and it’s only a
beginning! France starts to have its personal way to play extreme metal.
I can only think of one good band out of your
country, Anorexia Nervosa, and they are a completely different style than
you guys, what is the main influence over there?
Yes, that’s true, but I believe they took a break in the band’s life. I
think the actual biggest band in France stays Gojira which have an amazing
and deserved success around the world!
What is your position on the current extreme
metal scene? and what do you feel is the natural progression right now?
We don’t have a particular position, I think extreme metal in general is
growing these times and that’s cool!
Do you feel that too many bands now a days jump
on the "brutal" bandwagon, with the whole Deathcore blowup, just so that
they can fit in, or do you think that they have gotten something here?
That’s true that lots of bands appear from everywhere, and it’s often
difficult to follow everything. But I don’t really care of that.
Have you started writing material for a new
album yet?
Not at this time, we still be in the Icon promotion with gigs and festivals
around Europe. We’ll start writing again in September, I think.
Are you going to start differing in style, or
do you think it will remain the same or follow a more natural progression?
I don’t know… but I can tell you that it will be brutal, and with surprises
I hope!
On a different note, Do any band members have
to hold onto a regular day job? And what are they?
Yes, we all have one. Olivier works in school, Liem in a textile factory,
Eric in a bank, Kevin is student and I work in a psychiatric hospital.
If you could play with any 3 bands/artists,
past, present or future, who would they be?
Dying Fetus, Napalm Death and Suffocation.
What kind of Television shows are French metal
heads watching, and are there any fascinations with English reality shows?
Personally, I really like American series like The Shield, Oz or Dexter.
What are the band members favorite cartoons,
always curious about this, because I tend to be watching Family Guy while I
write an interview, so just want to get your perspective?
Sorry but I never watch cartoons.
Those are all of my questions, thank you so
very much for your time. Any last words?
Thank you for the interview, we really hope to come soon on tour to make you
discover our new album on stage! Stay brutal!
EMAIL INTERVIEW WITH BENIGHTED.