God Enslavement

Consuming the Divine

Vincent Matthews – vocals
Björn Köppler – rhythm and lead guitars
Déhà – rhythm and lead guitars
Kevin Olasz – solo guitars
Julian Roos – bass
Adam Jarvis – drums

1. Sine Nomine Sum

This song is the introduction track, this is the introduction to not only the album, but the band as well. A fresh band with some key players in the metal game, this is the first thing you hear from God Enslavement. It has a dark operatic feel to it, setting the scene while you listen. You know in your gut, that what is about to follow is going to pummel you, it will fragmentalize you into a pulpy mass beyond recognition. Prepare yourselves for track two.

2. Belial Within

This is the first time you will hear God Enslavement, and they come in hard and fast with this track. We hear Adam play a quick roll out on the toms and then a mean guitar riff chugging right along with the tempo. It has an old school death metal feel to it, guaranteed to make you headbang within the first five seconds of the song play. When the vocals come in around the twelve second mark we hear the sound of Vince Mathews on the mic. He has a distinct style and it fits this style to a “T”. The song propels your adrenaline levels and will get you moving whether you want to or not. This song is a mere 3:33 minutes long and is like an open water feeding frenzy. Right at the :50 second mark there is a quick little transition and then the rhythm that follows is intense, the guitars match the drums perfectly, but don’t think it was going to maintain that specific pace and beat for the whole song. No they take it to a brutal low with a diabolical growl at the 1:21 mark and it slows down for a punchy bludgeoning rhythm. Just when you thought the song couldn’t get any heavier, you hear the song set things up just before the 1:30 mark, and then you hear one the most brutal moments in metal of 2016. This is the type of brutal metal, that when you hear Vince’s vocal delivery, you can’t help but get excited. Because you just got blown away by how evil and brutal the song sounds with Vince hitting and emphasizing each syllable with brute force. This is the first song, and will make metal heads from every continent throw their horns up. For the metal heads like me, that grew up listening to death grind from back when, to the younger generations of metal heads who haven’t heard death grind done right God Enslavement will appeal to the masses.

3. Consuming The Divine

The band wastes no time with this song, there is no beating around the bush, or trying to allow the listener to get acclimated to the 666 Kiloton blast coming from Adams drums and Vince’s vocals. All the while the guitars are spinning an evil web of this infectious riff that will have you falling victim to the groove. The song has a great beat to it, forcing you to be tapping your foot, or head banging. If this song was to play at a club, well let’s put it this way, a full medical team and triage center should be set up for the aftermath of what most likely will be the end result of all the bodies violently colliding into each other. This is some brutal fast paced unfiltered death grind, and will leave you ravenous for more. This song doesn’t need any highlighted moments, it has start to finish brutality and ends almost the same way the song begins, straight up, and no chaser.

4. God Enslavement

The guitars and drums start this song with a cool rhythm, something to get you acclimated, nothing over the top. That’s not what these guys are doing here, nope not at all. This song is a slower paced, brutal bare fisted enforcer, of a song. Right around the: 18 mark Vince joins in, delivering guttural assault right along with the beat. They lay down thick groove with this track, leaving you involuntarily headbanging. The 1:25 mark they play this riff on the guitars, nothing over the top but when you hear it. You lock right in, like you are on the same wavelength as these guys. Vince’s vocals fit perfectly with that beat, and really adds to the heaviness of the song. Aside from Adams blast beats, this song is like a god damn M4A4 Sherman tank, not a blazing fast song, no it’s a slower roll right over and crush you type of song. Songs like these are the gift from the band, the gift that allows you to catch your breath, count your teeth, and grab a drink because the rest of this album is going to leave you with an unquenchable thirst.

5. Ritual Copulation

The beginning of this emphasizes some old school death, right around the :18 mark when Vince comes in with the vocals, I can’t help but think of “Stop at Nothing” one of my favorite Dying Fetus albums. I mean I will not take anything away from all members of this band, not at all. I love metal and will always tell you how I feel about a song. This song is a song that makes me focus a lot on Vince. He has this sound, one you can pick out of a crowd of vocalists. He has a specific style of vocals delivery, the guy has this sound like a demonic angle grinder. With a mic in hand, he can cut through you or grind you down to nothing.  Isolate Vince for a moment and you understand what I am saying. Now add the rest of the band in and you have this brutal song with a groove, just pay attention to the 2:00 minute mark when you hear Deha chugging along, and Björn attacking your auditory senses with his guitar work. That heavy groove filled section will cause uncontrollable violent outbursts of any and every limb not tied down. Metaphorically this song is like strapping you to a deli slicer and taking you down slice by slice starting feet first, yet you still be throwing up those horns \m/ or playing air guitar around the 3:16 mark. Either way, after listening to this song you will feel the uncontrollable temptation to repeat this song. This song shows the range that Vince possesses, from the guttural death metal lows, to the grind influences. This is for me, is the best I have ever heard Vince, and that statement right there is what makes this one of the best releases happening in 2016.

6. Enlightenment

Yes, yes, yes, this song starts out with an intensity that we just don’t hear any enough of. This beginning is unbelievable. Just listen to the guitars grinding away a menacing riff all the while Adam is tearing shit up like he’s a god damn machine. Right at the :08 second mark, Vince lets out a short vocal burst and at that moment you realize this song is going to decimate all that  will listen to it. That shit gets me amped up right there. Not all vocalists possess that classic metal trait, the short blurt, grunt, growl whatever you want to call it, you know in that moment, Vince is one of the guys that executes it perfectly each time. When you hear the beginning, you know you are in for a wild ride. It has this brutal set up, Vince grips the mic and the band locks down a groove. After that, there is no turning back. This song should come with a disclaimer, a warning of sorts. Really! This song is what you listen to right before you are about to throw down. One doesn’t listen to this song without getting amped up and ready to throw down. The whole beginning gets you amped up, and then the guitar riff at the :25 second mark is infectious, and only gets better as the song continues to play. It cuts right through you without any hesitation whatsoever. It’s far too early to say this is my favorite track, but this will be a fan favorite when all is said and done. Early in the song, they hold true to their unmatched brutality, the :40 second mark holds some heavy hitting blows. Just listen to those guitars, and then the blast beats. By the 1:15 mark the guitars and drums set things up for a catchy yet punishing section.  You can’t help but move to the music right there. There is no explanation except that your body is not used to music this brutal, and surgically precise. Just when you thought these guys had shown all their cards, the 4:13 minute mark we hear some eerie organs straight out of a Vincent Price movie. One can only hope that this song gets played live. Scratch that, one can hope these guys play out live, because based on this album, the writing of the music, to see them would be a no brainer for any fans of death metal.

7. The dysfunctional Creation

It’s songs like this that always makes me spin it a few times before I even think about reviewing it. The song starts out slower yet so heavy and quite brutal. It gives you this feeling that someone is about to meet their maker. This intro is only about ten seconds long, but it’s long enough to really give this dark, pure evil vibe about it. The blasts begin and the guitars continue playing the groove filled riff that starts the song. The vocals coming in right around the :10 second mark, they come in with this demonically heavy delivery, which follows the guitars. The first verse is undeniably catchy, and follows right along with the guitars accenting the groove that they lay down. They come out of the first verse in similar fashion as the introduction, to the beginning the second verse. I can’t get over this song beginning, it is so damn heavy hitting, and then they roll right into a change of pace at the :53 mark picking up the tempo. Giving it this thrash feel and throwing  some grind in the mix. Only for Kevin to give us the gift of a guitar solo at the 1:11 mark and shredding for close to thirty seconds, transitioning back to the rhythm for the first verses. Not only do they spring one guitar solo on us, but they do it again after the halfway point of the track. This is such a bad ass track. If I didn’t know better I’d say this song cannot be topped. However the album has increasingly gotten more brutal, more in depth, the groove gets thicker each time, and the rhythms are infectious.Right at the tail end of the second guitar solo at the 2:35 minute mark Vince joins in with a catchy line while the solo rings out.  The 3:00 minute mark takes us down a road of pure, unfiltered death metal groove, just listen to Vince executing those lyrics right with the beat. This moment in the song will get people moving fast and hard, that much can be said for certain. The way Vince is pulling off the lyrics for the remainder of this section is nothing short of infectious. Really making you want to sing along as this moment right here. as far as song endings go well the last minute of the song is brilliant, absolutely brilliant.

8. Katharsis Through Decapitation

The beginning of this song gives of a vibe like you are marching to the executioner awaiting your turn to become a foot shorter. This ten second intro really lays down the pace and locks in a groove. Just listen to the guitar riff trading off with Adam’s fills for the first ten seconds of the song, and you will know what I mean. Then the rhythm continues and Adam plays a solid few bars of soul crushing blast beats setting the song up for Vince to join the party with his demonic guttural vocal delivery.   The general tempo is right around 220 BPM, and 110% rock solid death metal with a groove you can’t ignore. Right around the thirty second mark they go from verse to and transitions out with a sinister rhythm. This song is a great example of why Vince Mathews is the right vocalist for the job. Rapid fire, demonically low guttural vocals that cut right through you. The only thing to top the brutality of this is right around the 2:00 mark the song takes a most satisfying turn with the bridge. Holy shit is this song going to be my favorite almost based on that, and that moment alone. This song is heavy hitting, it has everything you are looking for out of a death metal band, no frills, no sugar coating anything. This is some old school death metal at its finest. This will be a track that will stick out to many, and will be a fan favorite. This song has that ominous march in the beginning that feels like a one way trip to the fallbeil (guillotine) and the song only gets better along the way.

9. Ungodly Opposition

I love the introduction of this song, a heavy thirty plus seconds of killer guitars and hard hitting drums. When Vince joins in and the song takes shape they kick it into high gear, by picking up the pace. This is an excellent song to be following Katharsis. The whole time Adam is relentlessly hammering away with the double bass, only a few moments he is not playing blistering blast beats, or decimating double bass. The guy is a force to be reckoned with, and the more I listen to not just this song, but this album. The more I believe they couldn’t have any drummer that fits as well as Adam. Right around the 1:14 mark a strategically placed shredding guitar solo really hits the spot. This song is short and to the point at just under three minutes long you get locked in a groove, get your ass kicked by some malicious rapid fire drums, and get to enjoy an old school death guitar solo.

10. Insatiable Hunger

This is the type of song that right from the beginning you are headbanging, following that beginning rhythm and waiting to see just how brutal will this song become. By the :22 mark Vince joins the assault with his vocals, and makes the already established groove, just that much more solid. The energy level of this song is up there, and really fits the title of the track perfectly. The song is brutal, and right around the 1:56 mark they bring their game. For about a minute and a half we hear some really fucking cool guitar work from the melodic beginning of the guitar solo, following it the solo progresses and picks up. This is such a killer section of the song, just this section alone could be its own song that’s how good it is. Adam compliments the guitars by locking the beat in, and keeping the momentum going while Kevin’s solo is capturing our attention, mesmerizing us and carrying the listener to another world. Only to drop the listener right back into some brutal death metal to finish the song up.

11. Itneris

At last we have the final track, it is like something you would hear from a horror movie. It adds imagery to the album, and for people like me I love a track like this that finishes the album with something that sounds like pure concentrated evil.

How does one not rate this album as a 10/10? There is not a single track that bores you. Shit I could play the first 25 seconds of “Enlightenment” on a loop that’s how bad ass just one track out of the entire album is. This is an album that will blow you away, there isn’t any band playing anything like this right now. For a debut album, they are raising the bar so high, it will be one of those albums that when you listen to it, you are going to remember when you hear God Enslavement for the first time. For many like me, you will listen to this and hope that these guys play in a live setting because the formula is impeccable. For many, this will be an iconic album, an album that when you hear it, it’s like you are hearing something new for the first time. Nothing about this album makes you want to skip to the next track unless you are so excited listening that you can’t wait in that case, I get it. But what I noticed was how many times I was repeating the songs. As well as how I would repeat a song and find something else that blew me away. You get caught up in how brilliant this album is, that you miss a few areas of killer metal. This album is some real death metal fused together with some subtle thrash and grind influences. If you are looking for something that’s going to sound like everything out there, then be prepared, because it doesn’t. Now I’m not going to say you won’t like it based on that, but you are going to hear something brutal and heavy that you may not be prepared for. Adam’s unmatched drumming, between Bjorn and Déhà the guitars manage to rip into you with some killer riffs, and then throw Julien into the mix and the three lock down a groove. I am always looking for that groove, it’s what really makes a song work. It is what gets you head banging, tapping your foot, it gives you that feeling inside where you are feeling damn good about what you are listening to. That groove is important to the music, without it, you have uncontrolled chaos. Throw the distinct vocal stylings of Vince Mathews (you may not know him by name, but if you have heard him before you can pick him out pretty easily) and you have a winning formula. Whoever thought taking all these members and putting them together to make an album is someone who will become a bigger name in metal.  Every one of these members comes from a killer band/background, so what we have here is a small handful of some great musicians playing some brilliant impressive and brutal death metal.

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And feel free to check out the members other projects also.

Pig Destroyer

Misery Index

Maladie

Yhdarl

Shattered

Criminal Element

Deadborn

Effloresce

Sources Of I

Lebenssucht

-Badger \m/

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