BENEFITS – NAILS
Abrasive, visceral, eloquent and poetic protest noise for the 2020s.
Benefits began life playing guitar-based punk rock. In the four years the band have been active their sound has mutated into vicious, abrasive noise, owing more to the likes of Lou Reed’s Metal Machine Music, Throbbing Gristle and Nitzer Ebb than to the Pistols or Clash.
There will be those that question whether Benefits make music. Certainly, the feral blasts of sheer rage that make up most of this album are far from an easy listen. Like the very best protest music – think Crass, Public Enemy – this not unfocussed, incoherent fury. The lyrics are eloquent and poetic and, whilst the music is, for the most part, visceral and cathartic there is also melody.
Take away Kingsley Hall’s – thrillingly screamed – vocals and Warhorse is a prime slice of 2023-style electropop. Likewise, the distinctly tuneful Sh*t Britain and Council Rust show that there is much more to Benefits than caustic cacophony. But let’s be honest here, long term Benefits admirers want and need the likes of - what the PR blurb describes as “skull crushing fan favourites” - Flag, Empire and Meat Teeth. And those songs are as electrifyingly essential now as they were when first released through Bandcamp.
Now, what chance is there of Benefits making it to East Anglia on their next tour?
9/10
