I’ve always had a respect for bands that put some effort into writing lyrics that reflect a level of intelligence and awareness of the world and/or its history.   Don’t get me wrong, that’s not to say that I don’t enjoy songs about common extreme metal subjects such as murder, dismemberment, and Satan, because I certainly do.   But really, it does take a bit more time and effort to come up with lyrics about World War I or II than it does to write about fucking your dead grandmother in the ass until she shits out of her mouth, so I think you have to respect it when a band can come up with meaningful lyrics.

Passiondale by the Netherlands’ God Dethroned is such an album.   The band has put together 10 songs that relate the experience of battle in the Belgium town of Passchendaele, which suffered close to 1 million deaths during World War I in 1917.   So from a lyrical standpoint, God Dethroned earns a measure of quick approval.

Musically, however, the band is not so lucky.   To me, Passiondale just doesn’t really fit in the class of extreme metal.   In truth, it sounds like metalcore trying to disguise itself as melodic death metal.   Without fail, each song has an anthemic chorus that is more often than not sung over a simple melodic guitar line.   Add some clean vocals and some keyboards in just the right spots like the songs “Poison Fog” and “No Survivors” and you’ve got, well, a metalcore album not unlike something you’d hear from Killswitch Engage.

Again, that’s not to say that’s a bad thing.  It’s just not my thing.  Passiondale does have some blastbeats and some harsh vocals throughout the songs, but they almost always give way to a structured chorus and melodic guitar solo.   It wouldn’t be fair to say that the album was boring, but it is guilty of being predictable.   It also wouldn’t be fair to categorize Passiondale as a brutal or extreme metal album in any way.   Relatively recent releases by Hail of Bullets or Spearhead tackle historical war themes with a more brutal approach, which is more to my liking.

Review byPile Driver