God Dethroned
The Judas Paradox
Reigning Phoenix Music
Released: 9/6/2024
9/10
Hailing from the Netherlands the legendary God Dethromed return with the follow up to 2020's Illuminati with The Judas Paradox; an album which deals with the theory that Judas was a scapegoat in a scheme to create a king for the world and Jesus's response.
This is the first time I have heard this band and I was glad that at last I have been introduced to them. Opening with the title track which starts of with a brooding atmospheric riff merging into a slow riff driven by double bass drums. The riff as mentioned is an atmospheric riff with an underlying brooding menace to it. The vocals are perfectly executed and add to the feel of the song, they are not one dimensional and have subtle changes to the dynamics adding a refreshing touch to the song; the guitar solo is melodic and really adds to the song, slow and building to the climax before returning to the song. The song is 6:02 but to its credit it feels shorter than that so it never leads down the boredom road.
Next up is the single "Rat Kingdom" starting with a big chord intro before blasting off leaving a cloud of dust in it's wake, the vocals are clear and delivered with menace and malice driving the song along and remaining in the listeners' head throughout. "The Hanged Man" is up next and the riffs in this song are sharp and prickly hooking into your head with the catchy ear worm. I am The Hanged Man left bouncing from ear to ear. The song has a great balance of riffs driven by a well constructed drum pattern mixing blasts and grooves with the ease of a drummer who clearly is on top of his game. A bell and choral effect introduce "Black Heart" with its brooding melody in this short instrumental linking into the black metal style of riffing of "Asmodeus" which quickly launches itself into hell with some blast beats driving the song, it breaks down into some great trilled riffing with a dark sounding single note riff calming the storm before it takes you of into the familiar territory of brutal riffing. The vocals are delivered with a cool and calm delivery which overall adds to the underlying menace of the songs, I feel that this gives God Dethroned an edge in this genre in so much as that instead of trying to brutalize the listeners ears with a relentless barrage of gutturals and screams demands attention to the lyrics and the stories crafted to the overall subject of the album which adds to the atmosphere created by the band throughout this album.
"Kashmir Princess" is next and I personally love the groove of this riff and the feel which has an Arch Enemy, (Leader of the Rats) feel to it, and a great calmness delivered by a clean passage towards the end of the song. God Dethroned have created an album which due to the textures and delivery of it's songs does not become a chore of relentless onslaughts of blast beats and double picked riffs. After the relative calm of Kashmir Princess, we are then pummelled with the "Hubris Anorexia" filled with blast beats aplenty and controlled menacing vocal delivery.
"The Eye Of The Providence" is introduced with a melodic riff and slow vocal building into a double bass powered riff ensuring that the listener is kept on their toes. "Hailing Death" adds great galloping riffs and big open chords into the mix with great melodic riffs over places. It flirts between groove and brutal with ease and adds more texture to a well balanced album through its well crafted and executed songs should ensure that listening to this album several times remains interesting and keeps the listener returning to it. "Broken Bloodlines" and "War Machines" ensure the album ends on a high. God Dethroned have created a beast of an album which stands high on the shoulders of the blackened death metal genre and I'm confident will be regarded as one of the best of the genre in years to come. Full of enough variety to satisfy fans of not just blackened death metal but death metal and many sub genres of extreme metal. There is something in this album for ALL FANS of metal.
Meathook Mike, HMS