Damn, a new God Dethroned! It’s incredible that after more than 20 years, we are still treated with new material from the Dutch death metal pride. It is well documented that it didn’t always seem that Henri Sattler, the driving force behind the band, found the motivation to continue. Yet, time and again, he managed to push through: blood is thicker than water. And so now we can welcome album number twelve with open arms, four years after the strong Illuminati. It is entitled The Judas Paradox.
If you don’t know the band, you’re either very young or have been living under a rock. God Dethroned has been firing off raging death metal at us since the early ’90s and, in my eyes, has produced a number of classics that can hold their own against anything or anyone. The Grand Grimoire, Bloody Blasphemy and Ravenous are some of my favorite death metal albums of all time, and I still get very excited about the fabulous trilogy on World War I, with Passiondale and Under the Sign of the Iron Cross standing out.
What distinguishes later God Dethroned from the older work is the urge to experiment. On various recent albums you could already hear that there was more room for atmosphere and cleaner music. While the early albums were mostly hard-hitting, they occasionally stepped off that path and explored musical side roads. And often it worked exceptionally well. For instance, I will never see the clean vocals in the song Poison Fog as anything less than a prime example of how clean vocals can be used in a death metal song, without the trve metalhead needing to search for the stop button on the CD player out of nausea. And I’ll just go ahead and spoil it for you, on The Judas Paradox, the experimentation is pushed further than ever before. With Frank Schilperoort on drums, replacing Michiel van der Plicht who departed for Pestilence, the new God Dethroned is formed. And now, let’s dive in and listen!
When I actually put the record on and hear the title track, I have to double-check to see if I got the right promo. This is not the raw and fast God Dethroned I’m used to, right? I can imagine diehard death metal fans who have lived under a rock and are unfamiliar with God Dethroned would quickly turn this album off. This bears little resemblance to the original, aggressive God Dethroned. The music is presented with a slow pace and a lot of grandeur. Parts with clean vocals and lots of sensitive solo work fill the track. Mr. Sattler has guts to select this as the opening track. I wonder what the reasoning was for that. It’s a good song, though, as long as you’re open to it.
Asmodeus starts off fast and has a nice, penetrating, floating riff behind it. A sing-along chorus will undoubtedly have fists raised during live performances. I find the melody throughout the song incredibly catchy! Again, I can find certain hints of black metal. Kashmir Princess is about an Indian plane that was blown up by a bomb. Musically, we find mid-tempo death metal with highly infectious guitar work and recognizable riffs. The song ends with a dramatic fade-out, something God Dethroned excels at. Like a plane crashing down into its inevitable doom.
Hubris Anorexia is a fast track with beautiful solos once again. The use of a riff against some sort of “counter-riff” strikes me. I don’t quite know how to describe it, but it ties my stomach in knots. Very well done. The Eye of Providence is a solid track, with less experimentation but enjoyable nonetheless. After that comes Hailing Death, which is currently one of my favorite tracks on The Judas Paradox. Here we find God Dethroned in all their renewed glory, all packed into one song. Old fierce death, melodic and epic sections with vocals bordering on clean singing, and a catchy chorus all come together. Yes, that’s the stuff I like!
And so we slowly approach the end of the new album. Broken Bloodlines and War Machine are solid tracks, very much in line with what came before. At times fast, hard, and relentless, but more than sufficiently interspersed with recognizable choruses and melodic parts.
In case it wasn’t clear from the above, the band has continued to develop while remaining true to themselves. Musically, Henri and company have significantly expanded the boundaries within which they used to stay. This left me a bit dazed after my first listen. What was I supposed to make of this? After a second listen, some of the tracks began to resonate with me, and it’s no coincidence that they were the ones that showed more resemblance to the older God Dethroned. After a few more listens, the other songs started to click as well. Even the first track fits perfectly now. I suspect that the band’s lyrics are becoming more diverse as well. As mentioned earlier, I don’t have the lyrics, but I can imagine that reading along would give the songs even more depth. In conclusion, I’d certainly say that the band has succeeded in producing another strong album. Different, but that’s pretty great!
Score:
88/100
Label:
Reigning Phoenix Music, 2024
Tracklisting:
- The Judas Paradox
- Rat Kingdom
- The Hanged Man
- Black Heart
- Asmodeus
- Kashmir Princess
- Hubris Anorexia
- The Eye of Providence
- Hailing Death
- Broken Bloodlines
- War Machine
Line-up:
- Henri Sattler – Guitars, vocals
- Jeroen Pomper – Bass
- Dave Meester – Guitars
- Frank Schilperoort – Drums
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