I was reading through the press release for the upcoming new album from God Dethroned; stating this was going to be conceptually driven through the ‘catacombs of established religions’. My first thought was how lofty this might be to pull off, then the second thought hit me; God Dethroned practically wrote the book on creating concept albums.

In 1997 they released The Grand Grimoire and in 1999 came Bloody Blasphemy; both are largely based around Satanic and Anti-Christian themes. I consider these two releases the pillars of blackened death metal excellence for a band firing on all cylinders at the time. Eventually they branched out to other subject matter covering heavy topics such as World War I on Passiondale (Passchendaele) and Under The Sign Of The Iron Cross. They continued with 2017’s The World Ablaze completing the trilogy of war themed albums.
So as I said, the band is no stranger to concept themed releases. But back to my earlier point about what I read in the press release. The lyrics behind The Judas Paradox will draw inspiration from the religious mythology all around the world, and that got me so excited.  I read further and saw stuff like the story of Judas, secrets of the Vatican, powerful demons and the symbology of the tarot card, so this got me all horned up. 

I was intrigued to dig into their twelfth studio offering and started with the title track ‘The Judas Paradox’. What you get here is a track of layers upon layers of slow, menacing tones. Sattler and company deliver a sombre experience; providing a lyrical canvas of Judas Iscariot’s betrayal towards Christ. I just love the orchestral backdrop woven into the song; thus setting the pace for what is to come. ‘The Rat Kingdom’ follows next with a similar template and keeps the dark tone moving, but the heavy riffs begin to dominate.

I loved the snarly tone found on ‘The Hangman’. The riffs pummel along, but when it pulls back halfway through, the solo is a blistering reminder of how good this band can be. Satller’s raspy vocals are a thing of beauty and it makes the experience all the more worthwhile. Curiously though, we get a brief fifty second interlude entitled ‘Black Heart’ wedged in-between, before ‘Asmodeus’ roars to life and dominates the ears. Again, the pace is slow and menacing, but Sattler and lead guitarist Dave Meester provide the heft of meaty riffs throughout.

The melodic approach to songwriting continues in the next few tracks. You can hear things open up on ‘Kashmir Princess’ and when it segues into ‘Hubris Anorexia’ the track explodes into a plethora of explicit tones, executed to perfection by Henri Sattler’s blackened vocal range. The mellifluous opening of ‘The Eye Of Providence’ contrasts superbly against the galloping guitars and the wonderful solo that follows. ‘Hailing Death’ picks up the pace and gallops along to a thunderous vibe, but the solo speaks volumes about the classical approach applied to the songwriting. The track sprawls over the five minute mark perfectly and it might just be my favourite track. You will get a similar feeling on ‘Broken Bloodlines’, but Sattler chooses to beef up the vocals and this track packs a fist ready for the gut punch. Then we end things off with ‘War Machine’ and I must say it’s a blistering banger. The riffs will pummel you into submission and when the track ends I can honestly say I wanted more.

I’ve been a fan of God Dethroned since the very beginning and I will say I like the maturity over the years. Sure, the nastier tone of constant blast beats and unrestrained anger from earlier efforts has been tempered down, but it has been replaced with an experimental attempt at becoming orchestral and atmospheric at times. It may not be the most accurate comparison, but a band like Celtic Frost comes to mind. I think experimentation can be detrimental to some bands, but in the case of God Dethroned it works on many levels.

This is the first album for God Dethroned on Reigning Phoenix Music and they join a very impressive roster of bands with similar styles and sounds. Bands like Opeth, Wolfheart and Orden Ogan will compliment them nicely and adding God Dethroned may be the biggest acquisition yet, although Kerry King may have something to say about that.