Benighted Soul is a metal band from France. At the crossroads of rock, progressive metal and symphonic metal, its music creates the perfect alchemy between effectiveness of melodies, complexity of compositions and power of riffs. With two albums and two European tours supporting Tarja Turunen, Benighted Soul is definitely one of the rising forces of the symphonic metal scene.
Anesidora: 2008-2011
Although created in 2003, Benighted Soul took a brand new start in 2007 when a few members changed. The new line-up decided to record an EP called "Anesidora" (2008). The progressive elements could already be heard in the Symphonic Metal, triggering very enthusiastic reactions among the press. MetalSymphonique.com webzine readers elected Anesidora "best EP of the year" and at the time, many reviewers agreed to say Benighted Soul is one of the most promising bands belonging to the french Metal Scene.
The band also proved their talent live, opening for such acts as Delain, Vader, Belphegor, Ayin Aleph, MyPollux, Elis, Fairyland or Kells, everywhere throughout France. The band's furious energy allowed them to achieve 2nd position at the 2008 Wacken Metal Battle. Finally, after 2 years of concerts in France, Benighted Soul took over the European roads supporting Tarja (ex-Nightwish) during the What Lies Beneath Tour 2010 (Luxembourg, Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Italy).
Start from Scratch: 2011-2014
In February 2011, the band released their first full length album "Start From Scratch" on SAVAGE PROD / SEASON OF MIST, an ambitious project including philharmonic orchestrations and a 20 people choir. This debut album was hailed by the music press and directly reached 1st rank in the FNAC music store Hard/Metal charts, and the 54th position all genres combined. Building on this success, Benighted Soul kicked off their french "Start From Scratch Tour 2011" as headliner to meet a growing number of fans everywhere they played (Lyon, Brest, Nantes, Montpellier, Marseille, Nancy, Paris, Lille...). The band also produced and released its first music video "Edge of Insanity" which has already been seen more than 98,000 times on YouTube.
In 2012, Benighted Soul won 4 categories out of 7 at the Metal Sympho Awards 2012 hosted by metalsymphonique.com (best album, best music video, best french band...). But above all, in February, the band has been invited by Tarja to be her main support in Europe for 10 shows. This new tour took them to Portugal, Spain, Netherlands, Belgium and ended in France, at the legendary venue "le Bataclan" for a memorable and sold out show which has been fully shot on cameras (watch the video on Youtube) . At the end of the year, Benighted Soul played at the famous Metal Female Voices Fest 2012 in Belgium, alongside Lacuna Coil, Arch Enemy and Delain.
Kenotic: 2014-2020
Early 2013, while working on its new album, the band decided to end its collaboration with Nicolas Adam, drummer since 2007. Guillaume Bergiron joined Benighted Soul just before the recording of its second album, Kenotic. This concept album, released on 2014, October 27th (Savage Prod/Season of Mist), deals with the writings from modern religions and ancient myths, that all attempt to answer the universal questionings, and invariably lay out the same story in different ways. Each chapter of this great story has been set to music to create Kenotic.
Early 2015, the band produced a two-parts music video: Halcyon Days and Martingale. Benighted Soul started its french tour (Paris, Tours, Nancy, Metz…) to promote Kenotic, ending in Thionville where they had the opportunity to open for Evergrey (June 21st). In October, the famous British band Cradle of Filth launched a big contest to find their support act for their European tour: they chose Benighted Soul to open for them and NeObliviscaris in France. Benighted Soul is currently working on their 3rd album, to be released early 2018.