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God Dethroned > Under the Sign of the Iron Cross > Reviews > SadisticGratification
God Dethroned - Under the Sign of the Iron Cross

Storm of steel, riffs and blast beats. - 74%

SadisticGratification, May 15th, 2013

To sum this album up in one word would elicit some thought. "Under the Sign of the Iron Cross" (USIC) the final album by Dutch death metallers God Dethroned will never be a classic but isn't bad enough to warrant a simple phrase like "alright" or "okay", it's good but forgettable when stowed away in your cd collection. There are moments of true genius and extremely memorable riffs dotted about the place but are hidden behind the frantic riffing and almost constant blast beats.

The aforementioned frantic riffing and blast beats are normally not a stick I use to beat an album by but this album certainly takes it to a whole new level. Blast beats are heavily abused in this album, so much so that it's hard to tell the difference between many of the songs. Very few songs really have an identity of their own and only serve as cogs in the machine that is this album. The first real track on this album "Storm of Steel" is definitely one of the better songs on this album. The frantic riffing and blast beats are very much on show on this track but it suits this song more so than others, it has a better flow to it and part way through the song it slows down a bit chugs along before building back up to speed. The vocals on this track like on the other tracks on the album are superb. One of my favourite vocal performances on any God Dethroned album, raspy, harsh but also very understandable.

The title track for this album is one of the few songs that really stands out. "Under the Sign of the Iron Cross" has more structure and melody to it while also retaining the blast beats and frantic riffing but to it's favour not its detriment. just before the 2 minute mark the best riff on the whole album kicks in but in my opinion doesn't last long enough, it's a double bass fueled tremelo pick fest with some great melody and it also has a really beautiful outro. It's also the only song on the whole album to feature clean vocals but adds very little to the song. I feel this track should have been used to close out the album but instead it is stood right in the middle of the album.

The production on this album is superb, clean and crisp but allowing the guitars to retain a nice sharp sound and the drums are well mixed, they don't stand out nor do they fade into the background. As the title may suggest the album and it's themes are focused around war, the lyrics deal with warfare, death, battles. They do a competent job and Henri Sattler gives an excellent vocal performance. Some of the better tracks are "Storm of Steel", "The Killing is Faceless", "Under The Sign of the Iron Cross" and "The Red Baron". The rest of the tracks on the album don't really stand out for me but your mileage may vary.

I must admit, it was a real chore to review this album. Not because it was so bad that listening to it again hurt my ears. That's not it, it's to do with the fact that I'm not really too opinionated about this album. It's good and very listenable but it's also so easy to forget about, once it got sandwiched between a stack of other classic death metal releases.