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Nearly 30 years on from the release of their seminal debut, Subconscious Terror, Benediction have created the finest album of their career. With vocalist Dave Ingram back onboard and a new rhythm section propelling their defiantly old-school sound forward, Scriptures ripples with absurd levels of intensity and verve. Every last song on the Brummies’ eighth full-length is a freshly minted death metal classic, built from the same primitive materials that guitarists Peter Rew and Darren Brookes have employed from the start, but they’re somehow sharper and more precise in execution than ever before. As an added treat, Scriptures sounds fucking incredible; from murderous single Rabid Carnality to the dark, twisted Neverwhen, death metal has seldom sounded so vast or thrilling.

Dom Lawson has been writing for Metal Hammer and Prog for over 14 years and is extremely fond of heavy metal, progressive rock, coffee and snooker. He also contributes to The Guardian, Classic Rock, Bravewords and Blabbermouth and has previously written for Kerrang! magazine in the mid-2000s.