REVIEW: Benthos - From Nothing

If the quote “Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get” from the Forrest Gump movie was about a band, it would absolutely apply to Benthos. The rising star hailing from Milano in Italy have become a fan favourite in their home country and is quickly creeping into the hearts of other nations. Experimenting with progressive metal and blending in elements from mathcore and post-hardcore, the band creates their unique sound that is both ethereal and heavy. Consisting of the vocalist Gabriele Landillo, guitarists Gabriele Papagni and Enrico Tripodi, bassist Alberto Fiorani and drummer Alessandro Tagliani, the band is promising a 12-track journey into their universe, where everything and anything can happen any second on their new album From Nothing, which is the band’s second full-length album.

At the beginning of the release, the listener is welcomed with a brief introductory track named ‘It Starts’, which transitions straight into the titular track ‘From Nothing’. The first track is just a blend of synth sounds, peaking into a chaotic mix, whilst the second one kicks off with vocals and atypically written guitar riffs that stand out from the rest of the instruments. Benthos is already showing off their mastery of using soft and heavy elements in music in a way that will impress anyone who listens to their work.

The third track ‘Let Me Plunge’ and the fourth ‘As a Cordyceps’ are shifting the way the band approaches the songwriting, and are already surprising listeners with different styles and patterns. ‘Let Me Plunge’ is an energetic, yet powerful song, that is very heavy on combining drums and guitars, followed by Landillo’s raspy voice. Meanwhile ‘As a Cordyceps’, also one of the three released singles, shifts straight into heavy music and screaming. A notable feature is the use of the robot voice in a break and bridge, that allows for more control over listener’s attention to the recording, as it is a newly introduced feature.

The fifth and sixth tracks on the album, ‘Fossil’ and ‘Recompose’, are taking us deeper into the universe of the band. ‘Fossil’ is a wonderful showcase of Benthos’s potential, with the music styles changing very quickly, using similar method of blending multiple music genres together to Sleep Token, only more aggressively. The decision opens up new possibilities for the songwriting, as the tracks are often more complex and interesting, leaving the audience longing for more, and that is exactly what happened with ‘Fossil’. Instrumentally similar to Knocked Loose, but with a kick in a form of screams and clear vocals, the track stays energetic the whole time. Utilising the instruments typical for prog metal and combining them with synth is met with a beautiful harmony that is sort of reminiscent of orchestral music, yet no classical instruments have been used during the recording. ‘Fossil’ surely is one of the most memorable songs on From Nothing, and the transition track ‘Recompose’, that is coming right after, is a brilliant way of giving the audience some time to process the long recording.

‘The Giant Child’ and ‘Pure’, songs number seven and eight, dial the energy right back to eleven. Unfortunately, maybe too quick, as the listeners are still full of the previous recording, that was very long and intense. Being more on the soft side, the rock style elements are complimentary to the atmosphere of the track. ‘Pure’ is on the similar note as ‘The Giant Child’, playing more with synths and heavier vocals.

‘Athletic Worms’, the ninth track on the album, is heavily experimental, throwing together a mixture of heavy guitar riffs, screams, robotic voices and synths. The shortest of the songs that are using vocals, it feels very crowded and chaotic with different sounds, leaving the listener confused by the end of it. The tenth track, ‘Perpetual Drone Monkeys’, on the other hand, is purely based on heavy elements, combined with softer music time to time, with the use of sound effects in the background, that get easily lost in the melody.

The experimental prog metal is very prominent in the eleventh track ‘To Everything’ as well, as the effects used in the song are well placed with the instruments, creating a perfect canvas for the ever-changing vocals. It is an energetic and captivating piece, that is well-picked for the last song, that is featuring vocals. The 12th and closing track on the album is called ‘It Ends’, and similarly to ‘It Starts’, it is just a blend of synth sounds, that are turning into a very powerful distortion, as the track comes to the end.

The work and ideas put into From Nothing are definitely noticeable, as the band gave us the best they could, blessing us with a well-crafted experimental piece. Without the track ‘The Giant Child’ being placed into a spot that definitely does not compliment it’s potential and the ‘Athletic Worms’ being full of sounds that are not blending together, but rather create a chaotic mess, the album would be a perfect example of well executed experimental album. Nonetheless, Benthos still did an outstanding job with this piece of work, and the time put into making it absolutely paid off.

Score: 7/10

From Nothing will be released on April 11th 2025 via Inside Out Music.

Words: Katerina Stepanikova

Photos: Benthos