Hailing from the cold, dark winter nights of Calgary, Alberta, Canada; BENEVOLENT LIKE QUIETUS brings forth a bounty of brooding, goth rock-influenced melodic metal. Laden with heavy riffs, catchy melodies and crushing breakdowns, the five-piece metal act lyrically exploits the joy in sorrow and strife within life, love and death. "Kill the Bliss" is the band's debut album and contains eleven tracks.

"The Beginning of..." opens the album, with a heavy, mid-tempo riff. Daniel's vocals are predictably low, but he has nice control as well. He lets some growls fly in the bridge before the third chorus. Lead guitar notes carry much of the melody here. "My Favourite Enemy" is another mid-tempo track where the band lays on open notes for the most part. Stylistically it Is structured much like the first track. "The Great Divide" hears the pace hastened as it chugs along with purpose. It again opens up a bit in the chorus; a common feature on the album. There is a point where the connection between the vocal and the music is lost for a spell.

"Soil of the Grave" opens with clean guitars but that doleful feeling seeps in pretty quickly when the main riff hits. It is again quite similar to the previous three tracks, though perhaps a bit sadder sounding. "The Rise and the..." has a nice melodic chorus where the lead guitars pick up the melody. Beyond that, the riff is pretty straightforward. "Where Dead Hearts" has a slightly faster pace but again that structure is similar to other tracks. It does however have a little more energy and melody. "Love's Inferno" gives us the first real break in sound. However, it loses the connection in melody between the vocals and the music in the verses, resulting in a real cacophony. The guitar solo is also something new and different.

"Dawn of Rust" is yet another mid-tempo track that just lacks that air of memorability, though the lead guitar work is great. They seem to have fallen into a pattern. "Darkness Collides" is a fairly sturdy song rich with Daniel's vocals and some nifty guitar work. Still, they need to diversify a bit if they are going to survive in the long run. "A Voluntary Disease" closes the album, and this is what I am talking about. Impossibly low bass notes open the song, rattling like a snake in a cave. It also has an infectious energy.

Overall, it was about what I expected for a new band in the genre. They gave it their all, but it was fairly bland and monotonous. They played things too safely and stuck with the core of the genre in nearly every track. If they want to survive in today's Metal world, they are going to have to figure out how to diversify a bit more, which is tough, given the genre boundaries. But other bands have figured it out. A mediocre first effort that I know they can improve on.