Dusty Musical Tomes Revisited: Episode 1
God Dethoned "The Grand Grimoire"
Backstory: I picked this up after reading a review that called it "Angel Corpse meets Crown of Thorns." (This was before they got slapped with cease and desist order from a shitty Christian hardcore band and became known simply as The Crown.) The only real local music store, Gopher Sounds, pretty much knew me as the metal dude on sight. One of the managers would actually check with me on things he should order. Anyway...
I was starting my first senior year in college, was working for a rental car place where my job largely consisted of cleaning up after horrible shit people did in rental cars and blasting music all day. No one cared if I showed up hung over, and most days I'd work five or six hours, go to classes, come home and sleep two or thee hours, do some (minimal) homework and go and party. So I was buying CDs left and right, but this one really caught my attention. It was a clear mix of death and thrash metal with just enough black metal. Too many of the Gothenburg bands had turned all melody and no balls. God Dethroned just hit that perfect mix of speed, aggression, riffs, and blasphemy to make me smile. I was even fortunate enough to see them live the following year, February of 2000, as they opened up for Cannibal Corpse (along with Diabolic and Hate Eternal). The blew every other band off the stage that night. Even my fucking hipster classmates who showed up for ironic points were actually impressed.
Until tonight, I have not listened to this album in over seven years.
Revisitation: this fucking owns still. It's not quite the monster it was then, and honestly The Crown "Deathrace King" is the ultimate example of this combination of styles, but it holds up. I still prefer the raw, darker tone on this one over "Blood Blasphemy" even if the production is far too cold and sterile. I give it a solid 8 out of 10 stars.
