Artist - God Dethroned
Album - The Lair of the White Worm
Label - Metal Blade Records (2005)
Reviewer - Marc Halverson
Founded in 1990, Holland’s own black metal quartet God Dethroned, return with a new line-up and release their seventh studio album. According to front man, Henri Sattler, “the idea of the title of the album is based on Bram Stoker’s book of the same name, it’s a quite unknown story and it was fun to use it for our new album.” Picture yourself on a ship traveling through history in the middle of an all out war out at sea, and you have “The Lair of the White Worm.”
Instantly, the album pummels you with the assault of ‘Nihilism’. With blasting drums and blistering duel guitars, followed by precise bass playing and evil vocals, the tone is set for the rest of the album. The structure of each song is more complex and taken to a new level on this record. “The number of guitar leads on this album has increased to about 17, compared to 5 on the previous album. This is mainly because of our new guitar player Isaac Delahaye, who brought in highly skilled techniques and feeling…Further we saw the coming of a new bass player named Henk “Henke” Zinger, who showed himself as a devoted musician with loads of energy.” Next, ‘Arch Enemy Spain’ continues with the aggressive trademark tone that God Dethroned fans have been accustomed to over the last decade. ‘Sigma Enigma’ takes a step back with a different tempo that flows smoothly with the catchy chorus of ‘Sigma Enigma’ ‘I open the door to a new dimension.’ The song breaks into a melodic solo and then transitions back to the lead riff and chorus. The title track opens with thunderous drumming and purely evil like vocals from Henri Sattler and breaks into a timely solo and dives right into a break down and brutal assault.
One of the strongest tracks, ‘Rusty Nails,’ begins with a slow acoustic tone with an old school sound that brings Metallica, Anthrax, and Megadeth to mind. The album continues its path of destruction but with even more focused riffs and brutal vocals on songs like, ‘Loyal to the Crown of God Dethroned’, ‘Last Zip of Spit’, ‘and ‘The Grey Race’. The album closes with the heavy hitting ‘Salt in Your Wounds,’ that pummels the listener with the chants of ‘Salt in your wounds’. This song assures the listener that they will need to put salt in their wounds from the destruction one will succumb from hearing these words.
God Dethroned is back and stronger than ever with the release of “The Lair of the White Worm.” If you are a fan of black/death metal and Bram Stoker films, then prepare yourself to travel back in time with God Dethroned through nine episodes of pure evil yet melodic tones that rip through your ears like a wave crashing into a ship at sea.
God Dethroned is:
Henri “T.S.K.” Sattler – Vocals and Lead Guitars
Isaac Delahaye – Lead Guitars
Henk “Henke” Zinger – Bass
Anen Van Weesenbeek – Drums
Tracklist for “The Lair of the White Worm”
Nihilism
Arch Enemy Spain
Sigma Enigma
The Lair of the White Worm
Rusty Nails
Loyal to the Crown of God Dethroned
Last Zip of Spit
The Grey Race
Salt in Your Wounds
