Passiondale

Wuddup?


I believe I said this niche would contain entertainment reviews and opinionated/moronic/redundant comments. Okay, the last part is made up, but I'm nevertheless warming up to the idea of ranting on Lady Gaga Justin Bieber anything media-wise.


But reviews are cooler. So, I suggest we start off with one.


I'm pretty sure the following album will not be of your taste, hence I'll be writing this review completely for jack shit. Praise yourself lucky I actually like writing.


GOD DETHRONED - PASSIONDALE


God Dethroned chronicles "the Great War" in this epic concept record. 
The original idea stemmed from vocalist/guitarist Henri "The Serpent King" Sattler's interest in World War I


Faced with some membership changes right before the recording process began (guitarist Isaac Delahaye and drummer Ariën van Wesenbeek both defecting to Epica), it's not noticeable on this record. Sattler recorded every guitar part on the record, and asked founding drummer Roel Sanders to rejoin the band, which he did.


Isaac Delahaye, a Belgian from Ieper, decided to help the band out on researching material, as he lives in the area Sattler pinpointed.


The name of the record refers to the Belgian village of Passendale (still mostly famous for its cheese and beer). Passiondale is the bastardised English name of the town. Correctly, it would just be "Passchendaele".
To be frank, I'd love to hear any Englishman pronounce that correctly.


The album starts off strongly, with a daunting sound sample that entails the opening track "The Cross of Sacrifice". It flows over immediately into the powerful second track "Under a Darkening Sky". When the trains starts a' rollin' it doesn't stop. The entire album exudes energy from start to finish and let that be an excellent trait for a death metal album. The first and only resting point for the record, an instrumental, would be "Artifacts of the Great War", the last song.


In between, we get absolute monster tracks like "Poison Fog" and title track "Passiondale". What I've noticed is the general ease of listening to this record. It's not overly distorted (compare it to any Nile track for example) and it features some clean singing (Poison Fog, No Survivors). For what it's worth, it seems to be akin to blackened death metal. 


Frontman Henri Sattler has already claimed that Passiondale sounds very different from any other God Dethroned record. Passiondale's successor "Under the Sign of the Iron Cross" definitely showed that.


I've been listening to this album for some time now (again and again) and it just seems to get better every time. I suggest that, even if it's not your thing, to give it a listen. 


It shows that the music scene of the Netherlands isn't made up just of Frans Bauer and André Hazes. 



For me, this album gets 8.5/10


A definite minus goes to the drummer Roel Sanders. He's a ridiculously fast drummer, but his patterns just sounded off on various parts throughout the album. 

Have fun!


~D.