Review by Tobias on November 27, 2001.

Although Godgory became somewhat visible on the underground metal scene back in 1994, I hadn’t heard them until this release. Since the band’s history is riddled with musicians leaving for other projects, resulting in a two-man project that was finally picked up for bigger distribution in 1998 by Nuclear Blast, it’s no wonder.

While I can’t be so presumptuous as to blame the two-man makeup for what feels like an unfinished vision, it does seem that another brain might add just enough to give better direction to the music.

One of the very first thoughts I had about this music is that Six Feet Under’s Chris Barnes got himself a tank of happy-gas and decided to team up with Europe to create a CD. As the music progressed I realized that the imaginary version of Chris Barnes (a. k. a., Matte Andersson) decided to some pretty damn good imitations of Anders Frieden’s (In Flames) introspective creaking spoken word vocal style.

Now, don’t get me wrong, some of the guitar work is really good melodic crunching metal, but the majority of the disc has a very light sound to it, often in the form of careening keyboards and classical guitar, most notably in the instrumental Sea of Dreams.

While most every element of the music ranges from mediocre to pretty good, I think the one element that is damaging are the lyrics. Sometimes it feels like bands just don’t pay attention to this area, or in some cases, as with Chinchilla, they just plain suck at it. But if you listen to Godgory’s sometimes hokey sound, in a strange way, the lyrics are fitting.

Bottom Line: Europe meets SFU; it’s a little weird, and a bit unpolished, but can be entertaining.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 6
Atmosphere: 7
Originality: 6
Production: 5
Overall: 7

Rating: 6.2 of 10

Review by JD on April 21, 2013.

I saw this simple drawn covered CD come to me, and shades of the very early metal years peeled through my memory all at once, yet I feel this is not the music on this shiny disk. Holodomor is the name of this UK band, taking the term from a genocidal famine that happened in Ukraine provoked by the communist rulers (SRR) in 1932-1933. Let us just see what this act has in store for us.

Playing what can be honestly described as a hybrid of Black, Death and Thrash Metal, it is a surprise to hear. Holodomor play some primitive styled metal, yet it has this incognito element of being well crafted and well played that goes against the simplistic attack that seems to be there. Barbaric Technical power, this band has that in spades.

The UK based thrashers have made an EP lasting barely thirty-three minutes yet they still pounded you with this over the top brutal power that seemed to swirl around from every angle. I loved each song that they had offered up, but the song 'Evoke' had the best trenchant riff ever – even though the song only lasted for two minutes and fifty two seconds. Despite the short explosion - It was a perfect song that just summed up the band’s sound and vision within a few minutes of pummeling.

The sad scoop was that this band was now split up and that sort of news is a sad day for metal. Any band that can combine this purity of technical ability cloaked in this very simplistic approach to their music needs to be out on the road. I hope that they do reform, and keep their sound, this is one band that needs to be in the metallic world.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 9.5
Atmosphere: 9.5
Production: 8
Originality: 9.5
Overall: 9

Rating: 9.1 out of 10

Review by JD on April 21, 2013.

I saw this simple drawn covered CD come to me, and shades of the very early metal years peeled through my memory all at once, yet I feel this is not the music on this shiny disk. Holodomor is the name of this UK band, taking the term from a genocidal famine that happened in Ukraine provoked by the communist rulers (SRR) in 1932-1933. Let us just see what this act has in store for us.

Playing what can be honestly described as a hybrid of Black, Death and Thrash Metal, it is a surprise to hear. Holodomor play some primitive styled metal, yet it has this incognito element of being well crafted and well played that goes against the simplistic attack that seems to be there. Barbaric Technical power, this band has that in spades.

The UK based thrashers have made an EP lasting barely thirty-three minutes yet they still pounded you with this over the top brutal power that seemed to swirl around from every angle. I loved each song that they had offered up, but the song 'Evoke' had the best trenchant riff ever – even though the song only lasted for two minutes and fifty two seconds. Despite the short explosion - It was a perfect song that just summed up the band’s sound and vision within a few minutes of pummeling.

The sad scoop was that this band was now split up and that sort of news is a sad day for metal. Any band that can combine this purity of technical ability cloaked in this very simplistic approach to their music needs to be out on the road. I hope that they do reform, and keep their sound, this is one band that needs to be in the metallic world.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 9.5
Atmosphere: 9.5
Production: 8
Originality: 9.5
Overall: 9

Rating: 9.1 out of 10

Review by JD on April 21, 2013.

I saw this simple drawn covered CD come to me, and shades of the very early metal years peeled through my memory all at once, yet I feel this is not the music on this shiny disk. Holodomor is the name of this UK band, taking the term from a genocidal famine that happened in Ukraine provoked by the communist rulers (SRR) in 1932-1933. Let us just see what this act has in store for us.

Playing what can be honestly described as a hybrid of Black, Death and Thrash Metal, it is a surprise to hear. Holodomor play some primitive styled metal, yet it has this incognito element of being well crafted and well played that goes against the simplistic attack that seems to be there. Barbaric Technical power, this band has that in spades.

The UK based thrashers have made an EP lasting barely thirty-three minutes yet they still pounded you with this over the top brutal power that seemed to swirl around from every angle. I loved each song that they had offered up, but the song 'Evoke' had the best trenchant riff ever – even though the song only lasted for two minutes and fifty two seconds. Despite the short explosion - It was a perfect song that just summed up the band’s sound and vision within a few minutes of pummeling.

The sad scoop was that this band was now split up and that sort of news is a sad day for metal. Any band that can combine this purity of technical ability cloaked in this very simplistic approach to their music needs to be out on the road. I hope that they do reform, and keep their sound, this is one band that needs to be in the metallic world.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 9.5
Atmosphere: 9.5
Production: 8
Originality: 9.5
Overall: 9

Rating: 9.1 out of 10

Review by JD on April 21, 2013.

I saw this simple drawn covered CD come to me, and shades of the very early metal years peeled through my memory all at once, yet I feel this is not the music on this shiny disk. Holodomor is the name of this UK band, taking the term from a genocidal famine that happened in Ukraine provoked by the communist rulers (SRR) in 1932-1933. Let us just see what this act has in store for us.

Playing what can be honestly described as a hybrid of Black, Death and Thrash Metal, it is a surprise to hear. Holodomor play some primitive styled metal, yet it has this incognito element of being well crafted and well played that goes against the simplistic attack that seems to be there. Barbaric Technical power, this band has that in spades.

The UK based thrashers have made an EP lasting barely thirty-three minutes yet they still pounded you with this over the top brutal power that seemed to swirl around from every angle. I loved each song that they had offered up, but the song 'Evoke' had the best trenchant riff ever – even though the song only lasted for two minutes and fifty two seconds. Despite the short explosion - It was a perfect song that just summed up the band’s sound and vision within a few minutes of pummeling.

The sad scoop was that this band was now split up and that sort of news is a sad day for metal. Any band that can combine this purity of technical ability cloaked in this very simplistic approach to their music needs to be out on the road. I hope that they do reform, and keep their sound, this is one band that needs to be in the metallic world.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 9.5
Atmosphere: 9.5
Production: 8
Originality: 9.5
Overall: 9

Rating: 9.1 out of 10