GOD DETHRONED - Under The Sign Of The Iron Cross
November 28, 2010, 14 years ago
(Metal Blade)
Talk about underdogs: Netherland deathsters God Dethroned just keep on plugging away, putting out solid album after solid album (after solid album… this is their ninth!), but for some reason or another, they’re never mentioned as being part of the upper tier of modern deathsters. Here’s hoping this great album changes that. If you want to split hairs, you could say Under The Sign Of The Iron Cross has a bit less groove and a bit more straight-ahead black metal influence than the band’s last couple. But it’s really more of the excellent same, with God Dethroned once again adding enough sped-up King/Hanneman thrash riffs to their death to keep it exciting. And there’s variety: there’s a totally killer melodic guitar solo in “The Red Baron” (presumably about war, not Snoopy), while the title track has a militaristic, war metal vibe to its eerie blackened death, as well as some attempts at melodic vocals. But the album’s strength is not in song: it’s in its relentless battery, the meshing of death, thrash, and black, and the tight production holding it all together. Hopefully at least a handful of metal fans out there will listen to this album and realize that one of today’s best death bands is currently on a prolific streak (four great albums in the past six years), and it’s time to start paying closer attention. Two big, broken, battered thumbs up.
