Remnants of the Art

Sometimes I just don’t know what to think about all those reunions, but it does feel like some old bands are an unfinished chapters. If you think of how great and how big potential was in acts like Exmortis, Goreaphobia, Agoraphobia, Decomposed, Gorement, God Macabre, Utumno, Nirvana2002, Interment, Evocation, Goddefied, then it’s no surprise that some of those bands decided to come back years later and try doing something more, as in my opinion (and I’m not the only one here I guess) they deserved much more than what they’ve actually done in the past. Take band like Goddefied for instance. They’ve released only one recording, a stunning Entombed worshipping “Abysmal Grief” in 1993 and then just fuckin’ disappeared without a trace, while they clearly had potential to deliver even more stunning materials. Anyway, seems like some of the old Goddefied members felt the same and they reformed in 2007 and recorded these three songs, which ended up on this 7”EP, which Blood Harvest released to satisfy our hunger for old school Swedish death metal.

And maaaaaan, this stuff does sound like it’s been recorded in 1993! The production pretty much follows the Sunlight / Unisound sound and this is something I like about this EP - that it doesn’t try to update this style too much and rather keep it as traditional as possible. And so is also the music, very classic and keeping the traditional riffing alive. “Devoured” is just awesome song, it’s of course very similar to Entombed or Nirvana 2002, but man, I love it, it just proves that Goddefied still has that something what allows them to compose this kind of music (just listen to that melody in the beginning of it). “Remnants of the Art” is probably the most relentless and aggressive of all Goddefied songs ever, it’s like an unstoppable force, hitting you in the head with crushing riffs and drums bashing. Side B has just one track and it’s “Zephaniah Dwell”, a re-recording of an old song from the “Abysmal Grief” MLP and it’s probably the only disappointment of the whole EP, as I would rather listen to one more new track, instead of a re-recording of an old one, but it’s just an EP and such releases have their own rights.

All in all, I think that Goddefied made a killer comeback, this new recording is much appreciated and worth getting, the band really managed to capture the old feeling here, but sadly I must also say that I have a feeling it was slightly unnoticed and not many maniacs have spotted it. I haven’t really seen any interviews, reviews or anything what usually comes when the band releases something new… There is a huge silence around Goddefied and that’s bloody disappointing as this band proved that some reunions are good and worthy. I hope though the band will not surrender so quickly again and will finally release a full length album or anything at all, which will be as good as the old MLP or this EP, which is damn worth having in the collection. What are you waiting for then? Get it bastards!