After a trio of albums about WWI, Satler and co moved into politics and religion for 2020s Illuminati, ( which I didn’t review for some reason), and while the WWI theme REALLY suited God Dethroned‘s style of melodic but vicious black /death metal, the new themes were still delivered with precision and quality and that continues for the religiously themed The Judas Paradox.

You know what you are getting with God Dethroned at this point, and it would be easy to copy and paste reviews from the likes of The World Ablaze, Under the Sign of the Iron Cross, Passiondale , or even older releases like The Lair of the White Worm , which contained arguably the bands best song in “Nihilism” (Still, the band’s apex was 1997s The Grand Grimoire in my humble opinion).

The 50/50 mix of blistering blacked death metal with hints of melody on The Judas Paradox puts the band in several extreme categories, which they still cover well after well over 30 years. With tracks like the killer opening title track, “The Hanged Man”,  “The Kasmir Princess”, “Asmodeus” and “The Eye of Providence” you get the band’s more controlled moody riffs that are purer mid-paced, solo-filled melodic death metal and recall “Under A Silver Moon”.

Then with blistering numbers like the standout track “Rat Kingdom”, “The Hanged Man”, “Hubris Anorexia” and “Broken Bloodlines” (arguably the most direct, vicious song the band has delivered in years, even with the moody chorus), and sudden closer “War Machine” you get the band’s more vicious pure death metal and even black metal-hued savagery.

Every sounds exceptional; crisp, crunchy, and razor sharp and Sattler sounds as raspy as ever. My only minor issue is the album overall just sort of ranks as a middling affair in their consistently solid discography. That isn’t bad- they don’t have a single bad album, this is just an album that will sit on my shelf while I listen to some of the others listed above more regularly.  Also, personally I prefer the WWI material, over these newer themes, as the more war metal visage suited the band’s sound better.

Album number 10 sees the band continue the WWI theme delivered on 2009s Passiondale and 2012s Under the Sign of the Iron Cross, as Sattler really seems to have locked into a war metal sound and style that mixes melodic death metal, black metal and classic death metal. One subtle change is that the addition of Ferguson on lead guitar has added an increased melodic element that the band has always had, but seems really fleshed out with some superb, somber, harmonic lead work throughout.

After somber intro “A Call to Arms” (immediately showing Ferguson’s skill), “Annihilation Crusade”  which can only be termed as a classic God Dethroned track with a perfect mix of razor sharp blasts, big grooves and a nice lead melody line and chorus. The title track follows with more of the same with a really fucking nice melodic blast beat. The formula is pretty rigid for the rest of the album even if “On the Wrong Side of the Wire”, “Escape Across the Ice (The White Army)” and “Messina Ridge” slow things down to a more Bolt Thrower -ish rumble and “Konigsberg” is an acoustic interlude.

Admittedly, around the 8th or 9th track, the formula of “blast, melodic lead, chorus, slow groove, blast ” (sometimes in a different order) gets a bit predictable, but it does not stop tracks like “Close to Victory”, personal favorite “Breathing Through Blood”  and almost 7 minute doomier, somber closer “The 11th Hour” from being immensely  satisfying and done with a veteran  confidence and ease that Sattler can pen these songs in his sleep at this point.The Unisound/Dan Swano mix seems to have added a very slight Stockholm buzz to the already razor sharp tone, giving the album just that little more bite than the last few fine albums.

The World Ablaze is exactly what you’d expect from God Dethroned 10 albums in, even after a long hiatus. Im interested to see if they stay with WWI as their overarching theme or switch their reliable consistent sound to other conflicts. Either way, you will know exactly what you will be getting.

Might Dutch Death Metal warriors GOD DETHRONED have announced to call it quits by the end of this year.

Read the statement of GOD DETHRONED mainman Henri Sattler: “For a Nihilist, nothing is at least something. 2011 is GOD DETHRONED’s final year in existence.

We could have spent another year in a tour bus because the amount of offers was endless, but I just don’t feel like touring anymore. People told me to take a break for a year or maybe two, but as I’m an “all, or nothing at all” type of person, I decided to call it quits. Not immediately, but in December of this year we will definitely play our last show. That’s gonna be at the Eindhoven Metal Meeting in Holland. I’m very proud of what we achieved with the band, but the time has come for new challenges. I would like to thank all of our fans for their support for all these years.” Cheers, Henri

On behalf of GOD DETHRONED

Confirmed GOD DETHRONED live shows:

02/07/11 – NL – Nijmegen – Fortarock

20/08/11 – DE – Dinkelsbühl – Summer Breeze Festival (final German show)

17/12/11 – NL – Eindhoven – Metal Meeting (farewell show)

How surprised were you in recording Under the Sign of the Iron Cross about how heavy and fundamentally death metal it ended up being? It is certainly God Dethroned, but there is a level of ferociousness here that surpasses your last several albums.

I just wanted to write an extreme album. I didn’t plan on writing a specific Death Metal album.
For me this album is very God Dethroned and I mixed my Emperor and Behemoth influences with my typical riffs and it just turned out brrrrrutal! I also believe that having a drummer like Mike made it possible to create such an explosive piece of aggressiveness this time.

Although you had successfully integrated clean singing on some songs in recent years, this album is all about aggression. And yet the one place where there is a clean vocal on the title track ends up fitting spectacularly well, almost giving a moment of somber reprieve to the chaos on either side.

The singing is done by a good friend of mine [Marco van de Velde]. He’s the singer of a band called The Wounded. What makes this cooperation so special is the fact that he writes the lyrics for that specific part himself. I only tell him where to sing. I usually write from a third person point of view, where he writes from the “I” perspective. It makes it really special. Live, I do those clean vocals myself.

What really struck me about Under the Sign of the Iron Cross was how the atrocity and tragedy in the lyrics matched up so well with the feeling of the music.  Do you ever adjust an arrangement to make its vibe more in line with the lyrical content?

No. I just picture a story in my head, come up with a fitting title and then write the music that belongs to that specific feeling. Then when that’s all done I write the lyrics. It always works fine like that and I never change the music afterwards. I’ve never thrown a piece of music away in my life. At least not when I was working on an album.

“The Killing is Faceless” in particular is stunning in the way that the franticness of the riffing fits so well with lyrics that are spat out with such venom. It is one of several examples where something as simple as a certain line of a verse becomes just as memorable, if not more so, than the actual chorus. I still get chills every time I hear “Soldiers ripped to pieces!”

Thank you. That song is one of the more intense songs on the album. Like I explained before, the music and lyrics are based on the picture I see when I think about the topic. People would have to hear it to understand it. This song is definitely one of our favorite songs on Under the Sign of the Iron Cross.

The story of how you ended up writing a concept album about World War I with Passiondale is well known now. How soon after you finished that album did you decide that you would again write a concept album, this time about The Battle of Verdun, the Schlieffen Plan, and the Red Baron? Was there much debate about whether this was the direction you should take the album?

There is never much debate about which direction to go. That is the advantage of being band leader and basically sole composer in our band. The critics on Passiondale were so great that I decided to go on writing about World War I. Not many bands use this war as a subject for their songs, so it gives me plenty of freedom to write about it. The reviews I’ve seen so far on our new album are good enough to reveal my plans to turn this World War One concept album thing into a trilogy. People like the concept and somehow it brings out the best in me.

What was the approach taken, musically and lyrically, to craft such an ambitious project?

The main thing and most difficult task was to do research and to write the lyrics. It was staying in sync with history, writing cool and catchy lyrics, and trying to construct the concept in a way that it makes sense and flows naturally.

Death metal is certainly a style that lends itself well to tales of war, doesn’t it? Do you find that bands like your label mates in Hail of Bullets, as well as Bolt Thrower and even Jungle Rot do it well in their own ways?

Yes they do it very well. I think they’ve all proven that by now considering the fact that so many people like them.

To my ears, the approach taken by God Dethroned to a war-based concept album stands apart from other bands that have done it, primarily for one reason: the distinctive manner in which you write guitar melodies.

I guess that’s easier for you to judge about than me. I’m far from objective when it comes down to judging God Dethroned songs. I worked on them intensively and heard them a million times during recording and mixing. By the time the album is released I don’t even know anymore if the songs are good at all or not. But anyway, thanks for the compliment!

While anyone with any sense knows that an album like Under the Sign of the Iron Cross is a historical document set to music, certain countries tend to be super sensitive about metal albums that paint such images, although the issues tend to surround WW II and the Nazis more than WW I. Have you encountered any problems or misconceptions about the album?

No, we never encountered problems or misunderstandings at all. I guess people understand my lyrics well, or in interviews I am clear enough about the fact that we write songs from a historical point of view, unbiased and without political statements in them. People who would accuse us of right wing ideas or war glorification simply haven’t paid attention.

On to some other topics now… God Dethroned has been with Metal Blade for a long time and are one of the staple death metal acts on the roster. To what do you attribute this long lasting relationship in an era where switching labels happens with some frequency?

Metal Blade always treated us well and did a lot of promotion for our albums. In return we probably sold enough albums to keep them happy as well. We never saw a reason to go to another label, simply because we couldn’t imagine that things would be a lot better for us.
So we stayed and I haven’t regretted it so far in these nearly 14 years that we have been working together.

Since vinyl has made a significant comeback, especially in the metal world, has God Dethroned released any of its albums on vinyl, with special packaging or otherwise? Have you considered it?

Every God Dethroned album has been released on vinyl with the exception of the albums Lair of the White Worm and The Toxic Touch. I think that vinyl was only released through Metal Blade Europe though, but people can definitely order it through their Webstore. Also the new album is released on vinyl and the artwork simply looks amazing on a big album sleeve. Next to black vinyl it’s also available on grey and orange vinyl.

Wrapping up, what is on the horizon for God Dethroned in 2011?

I don’t know yet. Things always pop up by surprise, so we’ll see what happens.

Continuing the war theme of 2009’s excellent Passiondale, Under the Sign of the Iron Cross is unquestionably a God Dethroned album, even with yet another line-up shuffle. Also, even with the band’s recognizable sense of melody and archival death metal, its God Dethroned’s most aggressive album of their career. Whether it’s the addition of drummer Mike van der Plicht (Prostitute Disfigurement, Detonation, Katafalk) and his more extreme background or something else, the band’s invigorated sense of savagery is immediately apparent through the albums first three cuts alone: “Storm of Steel”, blistering “Fire Storm” and “The Killing is Faceless” belt out a consistent machine gun like barrage of blast beats that I haven’t heard from the band ― at least on this level of tenacity. And it really doesn’t let up.

Fans of their more melodic work need not fret though as Henry Sattler and his band of hired guns still manage to make the songs epic and melodic. For example, the almost black metal tremolo picked harmonies and synths in the standout  title track delves into the likes of “Poison Fog” from Passiondale with some somber harmonies and clean vocals, once again provided by Marco Van der Velde of The Wounded). It’s this album’s only instance of clean vocals, though. “Chaos Reigns at Dawn”, amid its relentless throes also manages to inject some simply brilliant melodies at 1:40 and “Through Byzantine” injects some sublet Middle Eastern shreddage to the album’s only real mid paced fray. The furiously excellent “The Red Baron” also delivers some killer leads and melodies.

And while Under the Sign of the Iron Cross is pure unbridled salvo of artillery and shellshock as opposed to Passiondale’s more somber, human element, the album ends with the 7 minute, more melancholy epic “On Fields of Death & Destruction” appropriately closes out the album with some moody synths and fitting sense of loss.

Hail of Bullets and Bolt Thrower may be considered the very pinnacle of war themed death metal, but at this rate God Dethroned are going to be considered in the same context as wel as already being one of metal’s most consistent, respected and reliable acts.

The second leg of the tour starts on September 30th in Tucson, Arizona with Abigail Williams, Augury and label mates Woe of Tyrants and leads us through the States up to Canada. We are really excited to tour the U.S. again and to promote our latest album “Passiondale“, which was released last April. Our last show in the U.S. was in 2007 so we can’t wait to see many of our fans again soon!

On October 21st, we head back to Europe for the third leg of our tour with Endstille and Hollenthon.

As some of you may have noticed already, Roel Sanders does not play drums in God Dethroned anymore. The amount of shows we’re playing is much more than we expected and unfortunately Roel could not combine this with his private life and other activities anymore. It was hard to say goodbye to him, but we remain good friends as always. We have welcomed Michiel “Mike” van der Plicht as his replacement on the drum throne and we’ve already done a number of very successful shows with him. Now we look towards the future with confidence again.

See you somewhere on tour.

Cheers,”

Henri
God Dethroned

God Dethroned has also finished work on a new video for the track Poison Fog, one of the most lyrically intense songs from Passiondale. Keep an eye out for the video to debut sometime this September!

Passiondale is available everywhere now!

GOD DETHRONED
Tour w/ Abigail Williams, Augury, Woe Of Tyrants
09/30 Tucson, AZ The Rock
10/01 Phoenix, AZ U.B.’s
10/02 Las Vegas, NV Cheyenne Saloon
10/03 Santa Ana, CA Galaxy Theatre
10/04 W. Hollywood, CA Key Club
10/05 San Francisco, CA Thee Parkside
10/06 Portland, OR Satyricon
10/07 Vancouver, BC Bourbon no Woe Of Tyrants
10/08 Seattle, WA Studio Seven
10/10 St Paul, MN Station 4
10/11 Milwaukee, WI The Rave
10/12 Cleveland, OH Peabody’s
10/13 Toronto, ON Wreck Room no Woe Of Tyrants
10/14 Montreal, QC Foufounes no Woe Of Tyrants
10/15 Hartford, CT Webster Underground
10/16 New York, NY Blender Theater
10/17 Worcester, MA The Palladium
10/18 W. Springfield, VA Jaxx
10/19 Baltimore, MD Sonar
10/20 Rochester, NY Penny Arcade

The First World War is an oft-overlooked avenue that metal musicians take, and while that’s fair, considering World War II features some of the most depraved acts of inhumanity ever witnessed on a global scale, World War I is not without its veritable horror stories. Passchendaele (or Passiondale, in its anglicized glory) is one of the war’s most horrible, resulting in approximately 900,000 dead altogether over the course of six months. How these dead came to be, well, that’s God Dethroned’s charge in storytelling, and Henri Sattler seems rapt in showcasing (not besmirching) the dead in all manner of excruciating ways. Whether men saw their doom inhaling the muck from the marshes of the Yser, or choking to death on the mustard gas the German armies used to flush out allied soldiers, Passchendaele’s participants were ringing Hell’s bells louder than anyone else at the time. Sattler, though not himself a soldier, reverberates the most guttural aspects of the frontlines over ten tracks of melodic death metal, countering Gothenburg’s foothold on the genre with a thrash-heavy Dutch assault.

I’ve liked these guys for a long time, but their material has tended to work its way towards tired and treaded ground in the latter half of the CD. Fortunately, Passiondale does nothing of the sort. It does throw its best track out fairly early in the CD (that’s “Poison Fog,” undeniably the best song they’ve written in a long, long time), but this one is chock full of new God Dethroned classics. “No Survivors” decimates with a hefty thrash riff, decent guitar solos, and clean vocal passage courtesy of Marco van De Velde from fellow Dutch band, The Wounded. “Passiondale” strums a funeral march with its high wailing guitar licks in the opening bars of the song, leading to a simple but memorable chorus. “Artifacts of the Great War” ends the album on an instrumental that calls crows from the skies to pick apart the remains of the day, in the form of a cleverly disguised waltz, no less.

Passiondale doesn’t have an ounce less venom than previous God Dethroned records; just more focus. Probably didn’t hurt that Roel Sanders (drummer on The Grand Grimoire and Bloody Blasphemy, arguably their best two albums) rejoined the band after eight years. What else can I say about this record? If you didn’t like them before, give them another shot. Those of us that have followed their career up to this point can gladly exclaim “YES!” to a God Dethroned album on par with their potential.

Well I’m pleased to say that The Lair of the White Worm is their best album since The Grand Grimoire. God Dethroned’s revamped line-up, especially new led guitarist Isaac Delahaye, who replaces Jens van der Valk admirably, brings a far more epic, sweeping delivery to the solos. Long time bassist Beef is replaced by Henk Zinger, but truth fully the bass plays a minimal backdrop in God Dethroned’s sound, so the change isn’t as readily noticeable as the guitarist change. The improvement is immediately heard of the opening track “Nihilism” which is an early contender for one of my favorite songs of 2005 with its utterly breathtaking solo work and stunning blackened climactic blast beat. Just phew. “Arch Enemy Spain” continues the trend with austere opening solo that breaks into a sturdy main riff and Delahaye spurts off some more deftly crafted, soaring solos.

However, all isn’t perfect through and through, despite the albums blistering opening. “Sigma Enigma” highlights Henri Sattler’s rather weak lyric writing, with a Mob/gang related theme that just doesn’t fit in with the overall vibe of the album, but Delahaye manages to keep the track’s methodical but unenergetic pacing interesting with his solo work. Delahaye pretty much shreds the whole album, giving the stout title track a sharp lead and pretty much gracing each of the tracks with some stellar fret work. “Rusty Nails” imbues the same kind of epic atmosphere as “Under A Silver Moon” did on Grimoire, but again isn’t exactly eloquent lyrically. Stern, straight up thrasher “Loyal to the Crown of God Dethroned” shows the more thrash based side of the last three albums, but has some enjoyable chunky pacing. The awkwardly titled “The Last Zip of Spit”, again lurches and gallops with a tight At The Gates/Darkane gait, but seems to lack the epic polish of the tracks that allow Delahaye to flourish with more flair. The Berno Studio production is expectedly crunchy, adding to God Dethroned now perfected sound.

If anything, God Dethroned are the Bolt Thrower or Dismember of the Netherlands, you pretty much know what your are getting, and no sweeping progression or evolution is going to creep into their albums; you’re pretty much going to get tracks like “The Grey Race” and “Salt in Your Wounds”, until they call it a day. Despite thier improvemnt on this album, God Dethroned still seem just a hairs breadth away from metal’s elite, sticking solidly and deservedly in the second tier of quality but rather unadventurous bands. Still, this most recent effort is marked improvement and just a solid piece of enjoyable metal than spans enough genres to make it appeal to most fans.

Taking a healthy dose of Slayer and Morbid Angel, God Dethroned forges a brand of death metal that’s catchy, fast, unrelentingly brutal and addictive. Just think of Bloody Blasphemy as contemporary death metal wrapped in the spirit of death metal’s formative years. Opener “Serpent King’s” expeditious start is nothing short of breathtaking. Jens’ masterful guitar work is reminiscent of the precision of thrash metal axemen yet it contains the brutality of death metal. On the same hand, “Nocturnal’s” venomous delivery is another exhaustive work of blistering guitar work and pummeling drumming, which, like “The Execution Protocol,” explains Euro-death metallers’ longing to exceed standards set on U.S. shores. For God Dethroned it couldn’t be truer than on “Boiling Blood.” More or less a homage to Slayer’s “Altar of Sacrifice” and Morbid Angel’s “Where the Slime Live,” the song displays the sort of craftsmanship and attention to detail that should land the band leagues of rapid fans if they’d only pay attention. It’s not clear if “Soul Capture 1562” will grant God Dethroned the fanbase it deserves, but for such a candid death metal band to compose an atmospheric piece (just call it a ballad) is worthy of praise.

Of all of the songs on Bloody Blasphemy, “Soul Capture 1562” stands out as a crowning achievement, for every blast beat and searing lyric is rendered mute to the song’s well-placed lead work and unexpected use of female vocals. Of course, things return to their demonic state in “Under the Golden Wings of Death.” Although, less forthright in its approach, the song displays slower sections that sound more at home on an Asphyx album than here. I guess it’s another way Henri and company are paying homage to hometown gods.

The remainder of the album contains moments of excellence (like the lead on “Firebreath”) that really don’t need to be expounded upon, but for what it’s worth, they travel along the same fiery trajectory as the album’s faster material. Simply put, Bloody Blasphemy is a death metal album for death metallers. Nothing more, nothing less.