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I've been mulling over this review for weeks now, and you know what? I still can't really think of much constructive to say about it. The only thing this album really inspires in me is an entirely blank facial expression. This is female-fronted progressive metal, that doesn't sound too far away from the last Epica album, just nowhere near as awesome. I found the press release for this rather amusing though: "Straying away from the growing symphonic metal scene, Benighted Soul adds many elements of progressive music to their mix; intricate and powerful riffs, rich orchestrations, haunting atmospheres, the band goes effortlessly from pop/rock to extreme metal" yada, yada, yada.

Quite clearly whoever wrote that press release hadn't heard After Forever or Epica, and while Start from Scratch isn't a hideously offensive album it boasts nothing I haven't heard before. Couple this with the band's vocal talent Géraldine Gadaut who lacks any sort of identity or power, and the laughable male vocals, add in a run time of over an hour and you can probably tell why this has become so much of a chore for me. Musically the band is sound, no qualms there, but when everything comes together it strikes me as uninspiring, and unoriginal. I could only really recommend this to die-hard female-fronted symphonic metal fans. Anyone else can give this a firm miss.