Into The Lungs Of Hell (Metal Blade ~ 2003)
The fourth kick-ass studio album in seven years cements this Dutch group as my favorite extreme metal band. Once again, God Dethroned display an awesome ability to play fast and heavy death metal with the best of them while doing it all within the framework of great songs and also adding a touch of class and beauty with incredible guitar melodies. Sharp riffs and impeccable drumming are enough to make this album great, but the awesome vocals of Henri once again push the band’s music over the top. It’s getting to the point where a new God Dethroned album is automatically one of the best releases of the year in my opinion. My only complaint is that there are only eight songs, but there isn’t a bad, or even a mediocre one, among them. Standouts include the title track, "The Warcult", "Slaughtering The Faithful", "The Tombstone" and "Gods Of Terror". On the version I have, any disappointment over there being only eight songs is lessened by the enjoyable bonus disc, which includes eight audio tracks (six of which are live recordings) and two video clips.
Ravenous (Metal Blade~2001)
I should probably start by saying this is one of my favorite bands. I’m not sure what genre they fit into exactly. They probably lean a little more toward death metal than black metal, but in my book, it’s all just great metal. I’m not sure "Ravenous" is as good as previous releases "The Grand Grimoire" or "Bloody Blasphemy", but it’s still one of my favorite albums of 2001. They’re building up quite a catalogue of excellent music, so a release doesn’t have to be their best to be outstanding. I love how these guys play the fast stuff excellently but also bring class and emotion to the slower music, doing it all within a great sound that avoids being too polished. They also know how to take a great, heavy, blasphemous song and inject it with a beautiful guitar lead that fits perfectly. They do so skillfully in "Swallow The Spikes" and "The Iconoclast Deathride", which is one of my all-time favorite God Dethroned tracks. "Villa Vampiria" is another standout song and another example of the band’s ability to write heavy songs that are still catchy. This is one of the few extreme metal bands I can listen to endlessly and I can’t wait for their next release, which according to the band’s web site, may be called "The Universal Slavedriver".