Band:	God Dethroned
Album:	The Judas Paradox
Style:	Death metal, Thrash metal
Release date:	September 2024
A review by:	omne metallum

01. The Judas Paradox
02. Rat Kingdom
03. The Hanged Man
04. Black Heart
05. Asmodeus
06. Kashmir Princess
07. Hubris Anorexia
08. The Eye Of Providence
09. Hailing Death
10. Broken Bloodlines
11. War Machine

Judas my guide. 

Peanut butter and chocolate, ice cream and cola, Dutch and death metal: all of these are classic combinations that rarely fail to be enjoyable. Unless God Dethroned branch out into the culinary world, fans will have to make do with their musical output; thankfully, the band ensure the wait won't be a boring one, with their latest album The Judas Paradox being yet another solid serving of blackened death metal. 

Moving on from the war themes that dominated much of their recent output, The Judas Paradox sees the band continue their return to their ecclesiastical roots (with a title like that, you would expect so), and poignantly ask questions as they bombard you with blast beats and tremolo picked guitars. Not lacking in subject matters to inspire themselves, God Dethroned still sound as vibrant and powerful as they did on their first album. 

Mixing atmospherics and spoken word, the opening title track ramps up the heresy and entertainment, setting a bar that, while coming close to matching on occasion, the rest of the album doesn't clear. The following "Rat Kingdom" and "The Hanged Man" ensures that it is very much the strongest foot forward first, with the former a traditional hard-hitter, while the latter throws in melodic guitar work and passages amongst its driving attack. 

Driven on by the unrelenting drum work of Schilperoot, tracks like "Hubris Anorexia" and "Hailing Death" stick in your mind as much for his performance as for the song itself. The ability to jump between rhythms and differing levels of intensity makes for compelling listening, aided by God Dethroned's Pomper being more than a background player, high up in the mix to complement and fill in the low-end sound as Schilperoot focuses on his fills. 

The aforementioned front-loading of the album does leave the latter half of the record feeling like it's run out of momentum and is cruising to conclusion. "Broken Bloodlines" and "War Machine" (the latter in particular) do try to shake up the formula, but it feels like the album has long gone into twilight by the time they start up, thanks to a mid-album lull. This is preceeded by "Kashmir Princess", which sees the band strip away the intensity of their approach and adopt a groove that is reminiscent of Satyricon; unfortunately, it lacks the conviction of said band to pull it off in an enjoyable manner. 

An uneven but enjoyable album, The Judas Paradox may not rank amongst the band's best work, but that is more testament to the quality of God Dethroned's catalogue than any mark against this album.