THE COVENANT

One of the many examples of the world of extreme metal expanding into the world of the Middle East, BENEVOLENT was formed in 2007 by the Lebanese brothers Hadi Sarieddine and Fadi Sarieddine while living in the small nation of Kuwait. Having relocated to the more cosmopolitan crazy world of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, BENEVOLENT forged its own blend of melodic death metal with atmospheric prog metal and released its debut EP "Divided" in 2010. Starting out as a cover band focusing on bands like Opeth and Tool, the brothers recruited guitarist Hisham Khalil and set forth to record the five tracks that would become "Divided" which also featured drummer Khalid Mansour.

Four years later BENEVOLENT released its full-length debut THE COVENANT, a lenthier journey into the more polished world of prog metal while tamping down the death metal aspects substantially. This time around the drummer seems to have disappeared at least in the credits although a heavy percussive presence is heard throughout this collection of 11 tracks that clocks in at just over 63 minutes. Also gone is Hisham Khalil and replaced by Mohammed Gad on guitar and bass. THE COVENANT is a completely Westernized style of progressive metal with zero aspects of Middle Eastern folk flavors unlike popular bands like Tunisia's Myrath.

Sounding something like a mix of melodic death metal with a progressive light metal band like Riverside, THE COVENANT focuses on heavy atmospheric clean vocal passages that are contrasted by beefy riff-laden death metal sequences. While not really ever sounding too much like death metal and more like a deathened djent, the non-clean vocals are harsh heavy growls that meld well with the chunky staccato djent guitar chugs and occasional melodic soaring guitar soloing sweeps. While not sounding totally original as this style of prog metal has been done before countless times, somehow BENEVOLENT does manage to stray into a slightly unique territory simply by juxtaposing the aforementioned ingredients into a slightly different recipe than anything i've heard before.

This is actually what i wish Riverside sounded more like. While the clean vocal segments are highly melodic, polished and compositionally complex, Riverside fails to deliver a contrasting metal performance to my liking. Some moments like on "Heathen" really take the extreme metal into overdrive sounding like the bastard child of Tool and Morbid Angel with heavy djent metal riffing sped up to death metal intensity and erratic soloing squeals. Tracks like "Ascension" feature some cool oddly timed djent riffing with a beauty and beast effect of growly vs clean vocals. The backing atmosphere is also present and offers some beautiful subtleties in the keyboard department. The album is also impeccably produced and the instruments are mixed quite well as well as an advanced use of dynamics which allows the album to flow along without ever feeling tedium.

Overall i like this one a lot more than i bargained for. Often far flung regions of the world are simply worshipping their retrospective heroes of interest but BENEVOLENT has crafted a unique flavorful album of sorts. By mixing ethereal Riverside styled melodic prog with heavier Amon Amarth fury fortified with Meshuggah styled djent chugging along with some serious electronic wizardry of Porcupine Tree, BENEVOLENT proves to be more than a neophyte in the prog metal department. I'm not sure the lengthy playing time is justified but in the end this is indeed an enjoyable album from beginning to end with no real down time. It sort of plays out like a well-balanced post-metal album only with much more variation. The world of progressive metal is immense at this stage so it's a shame so many bands simply get lost in the glut but it's always refreshing to experience an album that hits me the right way. Perhaps not the most groundbreaking band ever but for a debut album quite accomplished. Hopefully these brothers are working on a long-awaited followup.