God Dethroned - The Grand Grimoire

More incredible technical metal from Europe. God Dethroned manages to mix the aggresiveness of At the Gates with the technical wizardry of Dissection, forming a crunching pin-point accuracy attack on the senses. The opening track just blows me away every time I put this on. There's definitely something here which elevates The Grand Grimioire above the hordes, probably a combination of the fluidic guitar lines over uncommonly subdued keyboard passages to give a truly epic feel. Each track rages, no problems there, but added are the finesse touches which succeed in holding my interest past the first half of the album (which is lacking in most releases, where each track bleeds into the next). It also grows on me more after each play, which is a very promising sign indeed. Some longer tracks showcase the use of mood and emotion, adding the intended "grandness" to the picture. Actually, this album has it all, blast beats, anthemic riffs, heart tugging interludes, etc... The only drawback for me may be the lyrics, but then again, they are quite secondary to the music here. Truly strange "band photos" and bio, which are intended to give a "dark ages" feel, but just succeed in kinda freakin me out. One kickass album, and evidently one of the most played albums on college radio stations, so I'm not alone in recommending this release. Just don't play it at Sunday School!