Artist: God Dethroned
Label: Metal Blade
Release Date: 4/24/01
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Title: Ravenous Artist: God Dethroned Label: Metal Blade Release Date: 4/24/01 |
Judgment Committee Reviews | Rating |
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Abyss's Review:
In 1997 I went to the record store jonesing for some new metal. You know when you’re looking through your CDs, and nothing seems to fit quite right into your mood? I was in one of those states of mind, and figured I’d just pick up the first thing that looked halfway heavy. I picked up God Dethroned’s The Grand Grimoire, never having heard of the band. Now, normally when I do something like that I end up bringing home some crappy, cookie cutter band, but this time I was floored by what shot out of my speakers, and subsequently pinned me against the wall. I thought they had a brutally dense sound, played with speed and heft. The vocal cadence was almost hypnotizing with its ability to skip over the brutal instruments below. By this I don’t mean the vocals were anything less than blasphemous, but the meter at which they came out seemed almost melodic. And while I couldn’t pick out what it was, there was something that made them sound completely original amongst the whole Black/Death scene.
It was with disappointment that I received their follow up, Bloody Blasphemy, which seemed to betray the band’s originality, and threw them into the pile with thousands of other bands. It’s like they heard the last Emperor record and decided to try the same thing on a moment’s notice.
"This album keeps with their Black/Death base, but becomes more experimental." Well, that brings us to Ravenous, which lands somewhere between the two. The songs flow much better than the last album, but not as well as the first, so I guess they still haven’t realized their potential, but they’ve made up for their sophomore slump. This album keeps with their Black/Death base, but becomes more experimental. Influences from the last In Flames and Hypocrisy albums come across. Not a rip off, mind you, just a steady influence. “The Iconoclast Deathride” sounds like it could have been off of Clayman, although the vocals remain gruff.
There is some good metal here. “The Poison Apple”, “The Crown for the Morbid”, and “Autumn Equinox- Winter Campaign 2002” are amongst the standouts, but there aren’t any truly bad songs here. I do wish that they’d expand on the awesome sound they started with on Grand Grimoire. I think there is so much further to go in that direction. Anyway, one word review: Good.
Death's Review:
God Dethroned step up to the plate with their third Metal Blade release, although it is my first exposure to the band. Not knowing quite what to excpect, Ravenous was a pleasant surprise. God Dethroned blend elements of old with elements of new and weave them together with the common thread of expert musicianship (my god - that was a horrible metaphor!) I hear Kreator and Carcass and old Slayer on cool shit like "The Poison Apple (Eve & Serpentio in the garden of Eden)," and I'm sure King Fowley and Deceased would be down with the intro to "Swallow the Spikes." This is a fast, death and thrash metal inspired God Dethroned, and this is a major part of the appeal.
"Ravenous is an example of good, quality metallic art from Holland, which advances the ball in terms of creativity while offering something substantial to traditional death metallers and extreme thrashers." Of course, you also can appreciate another side of God Dethroned: the warm guitar tones, and the fluid musicianship displayed on some of the record's mellower, instrumental parts. Opeth they're not, but they do come surprisingly close at moments. God Dethroned also employ a subtler, electronic metal element at points which reminds me of Peter Tagtgren's Pain project (or new Amorphis with growling vocals instead) on "The Iconoclast Deathride". These variations add to the otherwise killer traditional metal headbanging of tracks like "Villa Vampiria."
The bottom line on God Dethroned is that they are a creative bunch of musicians who execute brutal death metal (seasoned with blackened leanings and strong European influences) of the highest order. Ravenous is an example of good, quality metallic art from Holland, which advances the ball in terms of creativity while offering something substantial to traditional death metallers and extreme thrashers. Sure, the bass player is named Beef, but I probably just don't understand -- or something is lost in the translation or something. Who cares? It's a good record.
Hel's Review:
Favorite tracks: "Iconoclast Deathride" & "The Poison Apple"
Has there been a blasphemous void in your life lately? Craving a nice, solid satanic work of blackened death-style metal mayhem? God Dethroned can help you. As catchy as this kind of music can get, which is clearly not truly catchy at all, but more groove-based and growl-along to. A mish-mash of European metal styles, God Dethroned takes the strongest elements of each and molds it all into an entertaining permutation that keeps your head nodding.
"A mish-mash of European metal styles, God Dethroned takes the strongest elements of each and molds it all into an entertaining permutation that keeps your head nodding." Ravenous is what you grab when you're looking for something aggressive to play very loudly and slam around to while simultaneously enraging any non-metalhead within earshot. It is satisfying for those reasons, and has the solid musicianship necessary to create an engaging album containing so many disparate elements. Sure, there are other bands out there doing similar things, and God Dethroned may not be leaving them in the dust - but they certainly are near the front of the pack. I expect this one to continue to grow on me, and am steadily becoming convinced I need to borrow a disc or two from Abyss…
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