Review by Maciek on January 16, 2020.

Oh, what a start of the year, with God Dethroned announcing their new album with two singles, "Illuminati" and "Spirit of Beelzebub", releasing videos for both as well. It feels so good to get back in touch with reality after festive season (especially December with so few releases) to see the legends of Benelux death metal scene standing strong, but also providing album that is so much better than The World Ablaze that I immediately felt I had to listen to it as soon as I heard the title track. And obviously share my thoughts on it.

I think that what grabbed me first was very good solos. And I guess you already know that good solos are the best way to get me interested. And boy, there are quite a few good ones here. The rest of the line-up stayed the same since their previous album, so also it's a sign that maybe this line-up will last for a while. And if their creativity remains at the same level, this band might be again on top of my favourite melodic death metal bands. And it seems it might be in my top 3 God Dethroned albums, together with The Lair of the White Worm and The Toxic Touch, so if you like these two albums as much as I do you should find something interesting for yourself here, too.

I've alreadylistened to the title track so many times, that it's become one of my favorites pretty quickly. Other tracks that I can recommend are the second promoting singe "Spirit of Beelzebub" and "Book of Lies". Both are quite melodic tracks, if you want to hear some echoes of the older, more aggressive side of God Dethroned I would definitely recommend "Satan Spawn". It's worth mentioning the fantastic drum work on this one, Michiel's blast beats and bass drums are just brilliant match for this material. And they're really good, especially in this track. "Blood Moon Eclipse" gives some taste of his skills, too.

Interesting addition is the clean vocals here, which just add to the overall atmosphere, enhanced by keyboards, present in every track here, both quite refreshing elements to God Dethroned's style. Clean vocals were used on previous albums, but don't think I've heard their album with keyboards in every single track. And choruses like in the title track or the opening/closing melody line of "Gabriel" just get stuck in my head and don't want to leave. And the "Eye of Horus" with its interesting different style, composed by ex-guitarist Mike Fergusson, brings some occult accent to the material.

The conclusion is that God Dethroned is definitely in good shape, providing solid material with all the elements I like - good heavy sounding guitars, blast beats, solos, keyboards, growls/shrieks and solid bass. If you want to give it a go, try "Blood Moon Eclipse" as soon as it's out. This track has almost everything that is good on this album. What really impressed me is also the band's ability to make it quite recognizable God Dethroned style, but with a fresh perspective on balance between instruments and vocals. A must-have for fans of melodic death metal this year.

Rating: 9 out of 10

Review by JD on May 8, 2011.

Old school metal is alive and kicking it seems. I have been reminded of that so much over the past few weeks, with the releasing of some very amazing disks. One has crossed my path that made me smile. Introducing for your metal appreciation - Will Wallner and Vivian Vain.

This two very amazing musicians who had met in LA have come together to make the type of music they love. They have gotten some of metal’s legends to play on their disk. There is Rudy Sarzo (Ex-Ozzy/Quiet Riot), Carmine (King Cobra/Blue Murder) and Vinny Appice (Black Sabbath/Dio), Tony Franklin (The Firm/Blue Murder) among others that are on this project. Amazing collaborations with metal’s elite who have come together for a ‘dream team’ so to speak.

This four song EP is a tribute to the art and passions of old school Metal/Hard Rock that seems to still clearly resonate today and make us all know where out music came from. Each song is a remarkable work of sonic art, as both writing and musicianship are some of the highest today. With strength in melody, yet that ability to be catchy and almost addictive as all hell - makes for a really good time listening to it.

This is one project that I hope does a full album very damn soon. With this little ‘teaser’ of a EP album, they really need to put out a full album for us to enjoy and the world to notice. I need to hear way more than this, so Please Mr. Wallner and Ms. Vain... we need more!!

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 9
Atmosphere: 8.5
Production: 8.5
Originality:8
Overall: 9

Rating: 8.6 out of 10