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God Dethroned: Passiondale
05/11/09 || Euthanatos
“In a foreign field he lay
lonely soldier unknown grave
on his dying words he prays
tell the world of Paschendale”
That’s an Iron Maiden song. I really like that song. I think it’s the best one off their sub-par “Dance of Death” record. But it’s a great song. It helps that the lyrics is really good and the subject is appealing. It concerns the battle of Passchendaele, in Belgium, in World War I. Really interesting stuff. Why the hell am I talking about any of this? Fear not, I have not gone insane, at least not yet. While God Dethroned have nothing to do with Iron Maiden, they do share that one interest, the tales of the battle of Passchendaele (or Passiondale, or Paschendale, or Passendale, or however the fuck you want to spell it).
Anyway, God Dethroned was one of those bands which I had always considered of quality material, but never really got a boner from any of their albums. “Passiondale” changes that, it has to be, by far, their best effort yet. I don’t care if you think it has too many clean vocals, or if it sounds too melodic, go be gay somewhere else, this album really fucking rocks.
If you have no idea what God Dethroned is about, or if you’re curious about the sound of this album, I highly recommend you watch the very decent video for “Poison Fog”. That track is probably one of the best off the album, the video is excellent, considering it’s a metal video and these are usually awful, and it has all the elements “Passiondale” provides.
The album, as a whole, is aggressive, brutal, but in a contained way. As I said before, there’s a lot of melody here, not only because of the clean vocal passages (which, admittedly, are followed by a mellower instrumental), but also because of the grand guitar playing by Susan Gerl and Henri himself, who also sings, naturally.
This is certainly death metal, but with a twist, a surprising sense of calmness in between all the fury, an adequate portrait, I presume, of war in those times. Epic death metal is a perfection description.
My only minor beef is the production, I feel the guitars could have been beefier, and the drums could have carried more punch, particularly the snare.
If you already dug this band, you’ll certainly like this album, it’s their best yet. If you don’t think so, you’re an idiot, it’s as simple as that. And if, like me, if never paid that much attention or gave them the time of day, do so now, because you just might find one of the most appealing albums of 2009 in your hands.
The cover: black and white emblem with just enough blood for contrast. Very, very nicely done.
- Information
- Released: 2009
- Label: Metal Blade Records
- Website: www.goddethroned.com
- Band
- Henri Sattler: vocals, guitars
- Susan Gerl: guitars
- Henk Zinger: bass
- Michiel “Mike” van der Plicht: drums
- Tracklist
- 01. The Cross of Sacrifice
- 02. Under a Darkening Sky
- 03. No Man’s Land
- 05. Drowning in Mud
- 06. Passiondale
- 07. No Survivors
- 08. Behind Enemy Lines
- 09. Fallen Empires
- 10. Artifacts of the Great War
