To walk the Left Hand Path is to be a warrior for truth and for many of us embattled soldiers, the pen is our weapon. The same can be said about Henri Sattler - the visionary behind the Netherlands' own Sages of the dark arts, the world-renowned God Dethroned. Their music stretches back through the decades and spans several different influences on a sonic level but ever-rooted in celebrated blackened concepts have Henri's lyrical excursions remained: anti-Christian themes, romantic Satanism, blasphemy, and war. Henri has proven to be a restless artist; one who has not allowed for his work to be placed into any sort of genre-defining perimeter, and for those of us who've followed this band for years, we wouldn't have it any other way. During my latest interview, Henri Sattler of God Dethroned gives some commentary pertaining to why he condemns Christianity, some interesting foreshadowing into our future, and some conceptual/production insight into the ideas and engineering practices behind the creation of "The Judas Paradox".

Jeger

Hails, Henri, and welcome. Congrats on a stunning new album! "The Judas Paradox" - a work of contemporary blackened mastery as usual. You've been through a lot in your career to get to this point. You actually disbanded the group not too long after its formation, partly due to members not sharing in your anti-Christian beliefs. The Left Hand Path can be a lonesome road indeed. You're obviously a man of much conviction. When did you start to understand that Christianity is a lie and that you were destined to spread that message through music?

I guess I've always been appaled by the fact that so many innocent people had to die because of religion. All the rules and regulations that they put on us. The harshness and rigidness of its conviction while they themselves do not keep their word and live up to what's expected from them: varying from child abuse, sexual abuse and abuse of power, just to name a few things.

There are generally two types of blackened metal artists: the one with tunnel vision whose style is beholden to traditional things and the rebel who just refuses to tie it all down. Henri Falls into the latter category…

Some of your music is pretty straightforward black metal. 'Asmodeus' from the new one in particular sounds very Dissection-like and hits all the same sweet spots. You formed the band during the height of the Second Wave of black metal. Did you ever consider making God Dethroned a strictly BM endeavor?

In all honesty, I've always liked the fact that GD is so diverse and that we fit in within various subgenres in metal. I don't like to be stuck with one particular type of style when I'm able to combine all the things that I like or don't have to think if it fits into what we did before as a band. I know that we are all over the place sometimes, and to some people, we may come across as a band who doesn't have a steady style, but I just don't like to repeat ourselves. Every album should be different from the one before.

There's not a single consistent doctrine to be found anywhere in the bible. What a poorly written story. Henri has taken it upon himself to shed some light on a couple of these contradictions, all the while as he makes things a little more interesting…

The new album, "The Judas Paradox", set for a September 6 release through Reigning Phoenix. This one is a romantic affair with Judas as the center point of the story. Can you explain the album's concept?

It is the contradiction of the fact that Judas is seen as the betrayer of Jesus Christ while he may be innocent after all. In the bible, there are two contradicting stories about the event of Jesus' betrayal. One story goes that Jesus could look into the future and thus making Judas a victim of a scheme instead of the perpetrator. Jesus had to die to be able to return as king of the world and he chose Judas to be the one to execute this plan. In the song 'The Judas Paradox' the events are being told from Judas' point of view. The rest of the album however has nothing to do with this topic.

Another production specimen! A lot of producers, particularly within the realm of black metal, choose to embrace what I call the ancient way. And it suits some of the music beautifully, but I feel like as a career producer you get to the point where you just cringe at the thought of going back there.

Well, thank you! Yes I believe that there's only a way forward. I do appreciate the fact that some bands decide to stay with the productions from the past, and in some cases it really suits them. But I believe that GD needs a good sound to be able to bring all the layers we hide in our music forward and make them audible and discoverable for our fans. In the end it's a matter of taste and there's no right or wrong. This is just how I like it myself.

What did you do differently as far as engineering for "The Judas Paradox"?

For this album, I could finally rely on all the skills I mastered during the past few years. This time I didn't have to work together with a producer and hope that they would understand what I mean. Now, for the first time, I could do it all on my own and finally give the album the sound that I envisioned. It was a huge relief for me.

Concerts are being booked in support of the new record. What does your touring schedule look like moving forward?

First, we will do a European tour with Batushka and Vltimas. Then in early 2025 we will head over to the United States for a tour there. Can't wait to finally come back! With a bit of luck we will tour Latin America and the far east as well."

Henri knows something we don't and it sounds like something critical is looming…

There's this dangerous notion floating around the blackened music world that anti-Christian and Satanic themes are tired concepts, but I feel like we need this art now more than ever, particularly as we see the rise of Mega Churches here in The States and other parts of the world. These places of worship operate under the guise of progressiveness and open-mindedness these days and it's rather disturbing…

The world is on the brink of a big change starting in 2027. The concept of a common feeling, family and religion are all fading. It will stir up extremities for the next 75 years or so, but early 22nd Century things will normalize into this new state of being. We will be the ravens.

It's been a long career road and there's much to reflect on. What are you most proud of when you think of God Dethroned?

I guess the fact that people still want to listen to our music and come to our shows. For an underground band to last this long is quite exceptional I think, and I thank you all for the support!

Do you have a message for your followers?

Thanks for sticking with us for all this time! See you on tour somewhere soon! Cheers! Henri.