God Dethroned

Into The Lungs of Hell (Metal Blade)
by Martin Popoff

Squarely a death metal release with only scant leanings toward thrash and melodic death (or more accurately, death with melody), Into the Lungs of Hell is a record that won’t change the mid-tier status of this long-suffering band (hello Amon Amarth and Carnal Forge), even as it pleases fans of semi-accessible brutality. Holland’s God Dethroned are quite simply a musical and musically deft death metal act (with a real hate-on for Christianity), their European-ness and their understanding of Slayer and Maiden and old Entombed helping the band craft extreme and often blastbeated ocean-straddling death with lusty heaps of heavy metal spicings.

Too much blasting for my liking, but then again, if they slowed it down, old school fans would complain. But man, groove-grinders like “The Tombstone” and the pavement-scraping title track (it’s a waltz) do nothing but show the depth of talent in this band. Bonus CD comes with 10 tracks (the actual album is only eight tracks and is 37 minutes long!) of goodies including covers, video clip, live tracks, and a re-recorded version of “God Dethroned.”
(2828 Cochran St. PMB 302 Simi Valley, CA 93065)