Benefits – Constant Noise
On their latest album, Constant Noise, Benefits shift between EDM, techno, rave and bleak, apocalyptic sonic wastelands
Wherever your opinion of Benefits’ debut album NAILS landed (hard as nails or nails down a chalkboard), their music is impossible to ignore. An incendiary wall of sound smashing against angry sociopolitical spoken (or shouted) words. Divisive, but with enough popular appeal to end up at Glastonbury.
Their new album’s title, Constant Noise, is a knowing wink to the band’s sonic reputation – the album even opens with the title track – but that implied aural punishment is replaced with a moody soundscape where that “constant noise” is instead referenced in the lyrics. Benefits have also reduced themselves to a two-piece, and the following track Land of the Tyrants shows off just how catchy this adjustment can be as Kingsley Hall’s considered, indignant vocals rub shoulders with Robbie Major’s electronic beats.
There’s the odd return to the Benefits of old (the skull-crushing Lies and Fear), but Constant Noise typically shifts between EDM, techno, rave, and bleak, apocalyptic, sonic wastelands. Blame is a pounding Faithless-esque banger; the angry, awkward Divide enlists the envious talents of Middlesborough rapper Shakk; and the static jams of Dancing On the Tables produce one of the most memorable tracks you’ll hear this year. Benefits are back, whether you like it or not.
Listen to: Blame, Divide, Dancing On the Tables