Irreligiosus Nemine Discrepante

Godless is a band from Chile that deserves to be much, much, much more popular than they currently are. Today, so many bands have flooded the scene, and so many labels have flooded the marketplace with mediocre and sub-par releases that it is hard to ever believe that a band can have an original sound or be doing something new or unique. However, Godless is just one such band, taking the elements found on the first couple Incantation albums, meshed it with the darkness of Immolation, added subtle hints of the slamming elements of Dying Fetus, and a general suffocating death metal assault akin to Nile and Morbid Angel. Its really a cool mixture, and very refreshing to hear.

My copy of the album is the dual 7" EP release by Blood Harvest, although I am waiting on my copies of the cassette and CD versions to arrive. For a debut release, you really can't ask for much more here, aside from more material. This album is noteworthy though for the prominent artwork of Daniel Desecrator, who contributed many awesome drawings to this release. His work is really unique, and the yellowed ancient-parchment look of the Blood Harvest release really does a great job, especially being unique in having 2 records in the gatefold packaging.

Being a debut EP, the music is incredibly mature and well-thought-out. Godless mixes moments of blasting assault with doom-laden slamming. Plenty of single-note "Rapture"-style riffs form the backbone of the songs, but there are also plenty of dissonant chordal stuff like you hear in Immolation. There are blastbeats, plenty of double bass runs, but a surprising lack of traditional polka/D-beat dum-tat beats, which is kind of neat. Also commendable is the prevalence of the bass guitar, which is quite audible in the mix, and even given space to breathe on its own. Vocally, this guy is fucking impressive... able to go from super-guttural lows to really scintilating mid-range blackish shrieks. His voice also has this really palpable sense of venomous hatred which is really great to listen to; there is this fucking snarl in the way he sings that really effectively transmits the hatred and vile feelings of death that Godless portrays.

Sonically-speaking, this is a very well-produced affair. It has gobs and gobs of underground atmosphere and grimy analog warmth, but you can also hear the instruments. The kick drums are triggered, but the way the album is mixed, they sound great, and really stick out. The drums have a little bit too much treble on the hi-hats, but it makes for a truly unique sound, and I fucking love it. This is a great sounding album, production-wise, especially due to it being recorded in Chile, which I can't imagine to have very many high-quality studios where bands can record death metal material.....

The album starts off with the ominous church-bell hits of "Deathhorns" before the blasting assault of "Iconoclastic" begins. Traditional death metal riffery crawls out of the speaker, strangling you and tossing you around in its euphoric, speed-picked glory. This is catchy, evil death metal; this band has a genius use of rythmic hooks in their riffs that help them to stick in your mind immediately, as well as a neat vocal refrain based around the title word of "iconoclastic". This song might be the most Morbid Angel inspired, as the guitar break for the solo about halfway in sounds like they were listening to "Covenant" a lot, which is perfectly okay in my book. Mind you: it is not a direct copy of anything from that album, it just sounds like the style of riffing that that album contains, like the beginning of "Rapture" for example.

"A Dogma In Eclipse" comes out next, and here we see another face of Godless's song-writing variety, being more heavy and groovy than fast and evil. Real clever drum work is found in this song, with really creative use of the ride cymbal in particular. This song shows more of the slammier kind of NYDM-influence in Godless's music also, reminding somewhat of Suffocation and bits of Dying Fetus, with the grooving headbang breaks. If this song doesn't get you headbanging, well... you suck.

"Ad Noctum Perpetuum" signals a return to more Morbid Angel/Immolation styled stuff, with lots of speed-picked riffs over double bass drum beats with sparse snare hits, and lots of ride cymbal work. This song actually reminded me of some Nile stuff found on "Black Seeds of Vengeance" for some reason just now, which had never occured to me before. Some Incantation-style riffing comes in, and this song settles into a really cool pattern of alternating between melodic speed picked riffs over a fast double bass riff (think "Rapture") and full-on blasting assault. Then we sink into a doomy, real heavy part with even faster double bass underneith, before the song picks back up into blast-attack mode. Very cool, very effective, and exemplifies the dynamic control that Godless possesses.

"One Unto Thee Azazel" is a haunting interlude track sort of like what you find on Incantation's "Forsaken Mourning of Angelic Anguish" album, and revisits some of the ominous sounds from the album opener, which is cool because it gives a sense of motion and ties the album's progress together. Crazy evil guttural vocals are obviously evoking some ghastly demon, as the title of the next song clearly indicates....

"Transcendence Into Pagan Submission" kicks off the 2nd vinyl, and showcases the more doom-oriented and dissonant riffing that fans of Immolation and old Incantation will eat up. This actually now reminds me of some of Dead Congregation's work, in terms of the way the song progresses and moves forward. More really active ride cymbal work shows that this drummer knows his stuff. Godless shows their ability to restrain themselves here, because this song has a lot of space in it, even though there are plenty of blastbeats and chaos to be found. This song is also notable because it has one fucking awesome vocal chorus of "i-a! i-a! Yog-sothoth!!!!" that will stick with you for the rest of your life.

"Impious Supremacy Upheaval" is the last proper death metal song on this album, and starts off somewhat similar to the prior track, with some mid-paced dissonant riffing, with steady double bass underneith. However, that is short lived before we launch into a Godless blast-attack with a really cool speed-picked riff that has gobs of urgent tension. Then we drop into a really really fucking cool catchy riff which features some really creative songwriting by having the drums vary themselves underneith the riff, and then progresses into an evolution of this riff with the signature double-bass and ride cymbal beat. This song also has the most prominent Incantation-inspired riffing, with plenty of pinch-harmonic riffs. Additionally, this serves as maybe the climax or pinnacle of the vocalists evil snarling vocal what-the-fucks. This guy goes nuts at the end, and you can tell that its not pitch-shifted or anything; he just has a totally fucking violent, vile, snarling venom in his voice that is totally infectious!

The album ends with an instrumental track contributed by Joseph Curwen of Unaussprechlichen Kulten, which is very cool in and of itself. There isn't much to comment on about it, but its great that they were able to make that happen.

For a debut affair, this hit a grand slam. My only complaint is that they didn't include more material, because the production is fucking there, and the song writing is so incredibly advanced and mature, its a wonder to listen to. This band truly deserves to be much more popular, so go buy their stuff right now.