GOD DETHRONED – Illuminati
Metal Blade Records
If there's a comeback of the year award then Henri Sattler and his band would be my nominee. Of course that deserves a back story. I've been a fan of GOD DETHRONED for a while. They're Dutch death metal vets, technically since only Sattler (guitar & vocals) is the lone original band member since starting out in the early nineties.
I finally joined the fan base in 2001 with their Ravenous full length, which was their fourth one by that time. I always thought they were a decent band. Then in 2009 to me they became a great band when Sattler and crew released Passiondale, a concept album based on the horrors of World War One encased in the saga of one battle. A year later they followed it up with Under the Sign of the Iron Cross, their second part WW1 themed concept album.
When the new decade moved on we the fans were promised part three of the band's war metal saga. But those promises were dashed when Sattler announced in 2011 that the band would be splitting up again. Then in 2014 Sattler revived the war weary corpse of GOD DETHRONED. Still it wasn't until 2017, that's three years longer than the war itself, when the war trilogy came to a close with The World Ablaze. That release wasn't a bad piece of work but definitely paint by the numbers mediocre. Like most trilogy concepts it felt like alright let's end this fucker and move on.
Which brings me to this new one Illuminati, the band's eleventh full length release. After one listen I was thinking comeback but from where is an important point. Since they're back to the anti-religious themes then I'd say there's inspiration from the early days circa the late 90's. There's plenty of blackened melodic moments with the addition of keyboards used as a backdrop. The opening title cut expresses that style perfectly.
On a whole the rest of the album is split between fast head ripping cuts paired with the more melodic pieces. All of which has this majestic quality especially when they employ choir like shouted chorus'. It's part old GOD DETHRONED meets modern metal audience expectations. Obviously that's a gimme considering along with mainman Henri Sattle on guitars & vocals you've Michiel van der Plicht who's been playing drums with the band since 2009. Jeroen Pomper who came on board in 2014 is still on bass. The new blood is Dave Meester who's taken over the lead guitar spot since last year.
For me GOD DETHRONED were a consistent band for years then reached the summit for a little while only to come crashing down. Illuminati is a good comeback. Henri Sattle delivers a great harsh vocal performance. There's some good soloing by Meester, hopefully he won't be part of the revolving door history of lead guitarists this band has had. In the end it's damm good.
https://www.indiemerch.com/metalbladerecords
https://goddethroned.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/goddethronedofficial
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