God Dethroned - The Grand Grimoire (1997)

Country: Netherlands
Language: English
Genre: Death Metal
Style: Blackened Death Metal
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© 1997 Metal Blade Records
Review by Aaron McKay for Chronicles of Chaos.com
Let me begin this review by saying that the score that God Dethroned has now is a helluva lot higher than what I had them tallied at my first few times through _The Grand Grimoire_. GD utilizes relatively forgettable vocals and a more-or-less tired musical style. Believe me, you -have- heard this effort before in different ways on other discs. I will say this for GD, these Dutchmen can play a mean guitar. This fact alone -almost- single handedly saves _TGG_, but the band's flair for injecting much more articulate, melodic parts into weak songs is a gift as great as their guitar prowess, and man, can they solo. With the benefit of possessing GD's first effort, 1992's _The Christhunt_ to listen to in its entirety, I have to say that _TGG_ is a full step backward for the band. Maybe blame partially falls on Metal Blade's shoulders for throwing what looks to be a hefty budget at them, judging from the almost Top 40 packaging of their new release, but I kinda doubt it. The reason for the long gap between _The Christhunt_ and _TGG_ is the existence of GD's pointman Henri Sattler's side project, Ministry of Terror. While on tour with MoT, I understand that Henri was repeatedly asked about GD. So, in lieu of this, he reformed GD to bring about the second coming of the group. God Dethroned's show opening resume includes Cradle of Filth and Six Feet Under, two bands that I happen to enjoy for different reasons; so I am, for once, glad I missed both tours. You could do a lot worse in buying this release, but when you could fill your GD void with a superior effort, embodied in their _The Christhunt_ release, why buy damaged goods?

tags: god dethroned, the grand grimoire, 1997, flac,