The End of the World

I'll start this installment of my review series about the best metal albums with a disclaimer that this is one of the most subjective ones in the series, because as enthusiastic as I am about Godkiller and especially this debut album, I have noticed in many conversations that many people are not. This is a very niche band and a very niche album, this album scratches a very particular itch that some of you out there might have, but apparently many people do not.

With that out of the way, I can just go ahead gushing over the genius of absolutely everything happening on this pure masterpiece. This album is the work of a musical genius with no equal. Aforementioned people who don't get it can quite frankly go screw themselves, this is likely the most gifted metal musician of all times. Sorry Reverend Kriss Hades, you're a close second, but it's true. What this guy, from one of the tiniest countries in the world, what he's able to create all by himself, it's almost ridiculous, no human being should be capable of that, but he does it with apparent ease.

And that's where the subjective part comes in again. This record has perhaps the best drum programming in metal history, and I showed it to a friend who is a professional metal musician (If you haven't heard of Thesyre, you need to, they'll be a later installment in this series for their Duality album), and he complained that he uses MIDI drum patterns. And I'm like that's not the fricken point, that is the best most detailed drum programming ever done on a metal album. Every drum hit is perfect at the perfect time, every fill is at the perfect time, every single instance of any part of the drums is exactly the perfect moment, this is the best drum programming in metal history, period. Any novice to this band, try listening to it and just listen to the drums, it's ridiculously good. I seem to keep using that phrase, don't I?

Beyond the drums, basically what we got here is mid-paced, rhythm-guitar based and keyboard supported black metal like the early Samael albums. In fact a lot like the early Samael albums. Except, you guessed it, ridiculously good in every way. Not that early Samael isn't awesome, Samael is just more subtle. This is early Samael on steroids where everything is absolutely perfect and flawless. You got your heavy riffs galore, Celtic Frost-type heavy, deep heavy tones and lots of palm-muting, your ultra-catchy Samael leads, and very passionate vocals, and keyboards that some people may consider cheesy and overbearing, because they really try very hard to drive the emotional point of the songs home, not to mention the much-maligned MIDI again. But I always felt they absolutely do drive the emotional point home, which brings us back to the subjective part. This just really works. It's Godkiller, it's a very niche band, you get it or you don't.

Another thing I always loved that this is a concept album about suicide that doesn't have any of the "cheese", the unconvincing overbearing lack of subtlety of all the black metal bands that refer to themself as "suicidal". This album presents some genuine anguish, some genuine despair, a genuine feeling of a lack of alternatives, a lack of a way out of the dark place, it successfully convinces me that this is how Duke genuinely felt during the recording of this album. And just to say the quiet part out loud, he's still around and I'm very glad he worked things out for himself, but listening to this album I truly feel like this is how the man felt at that time, and that is a rare quality for this subject matter. Usually it just comes off as some loser crying for attention, see the aforementioned black metal bands who refer to themselves as "suicidal". Listening to this album, and reading the lyrics along, you genuinely think like damn, this dude is in a seriously dark place right there.

All in all there is just an unexplainable intensity of this album that when you combine the perfection of the drum programming, the heavy guitars and the heavy keyboards and the very passionate vocals with the subject matter of ending your own life, it turns into a whirlwind of emotions, and if you are in the right mind set to receive the message, this album will change your life. It goes straight for your soul. This is a true masterpiece and I wish I could give it more than 100% but obviously I can't. And did I mention it uses samples from Blade Runner? If only you could see what I've seen with your eyes...

The End of the World is Godkiller's first full length album and it signals a big change in style for Godkiller. This is still black metal, but with its feet planted in the digital future rather than in medieval times. The End of the World shifts the focus of songwriting back towards crunching and shorter songs. Industrial elements become prominent and it's common for guitars to blare along cybernetic keyboard effects and loud, banging drum machines. This is an album where Duke Satanael goes for a strong fusion between black metal and industrial metal with a steady balance of the two to create a focused and precise assault on the listener. The End of the World blends these genres in a way that's crunchy, precise, and threatening.

From the intro piano on the title track, you are met with a sense of foreboding. The assault of the drum machine and the relentless licks of the guitar reinforce this as an imposing piece of music. Duke knows how to arrange his instruments so that strong, crunchy riffs come forward to deliver a futuristic sound balanced between Fear Factory style industrial chugs, Samael style blackened groove metal riffs a la Ceremony of Opposites, and more symphonic black metal style ambient and doom passages complemented by tower bells, choir effects, and the occasional medieval instrument. Some songs go for a full on techno romp such as Down Under Ground which has a solid, energetic rhythm with a strong impact and cyberpunk computerized sound. Much of the material in here are more even fusions of black and industrial metal that hammers listeners with rhythms evil enough and catchy enough that you can't help but enjoy it. That's not to say there aren't rests to keep you from getting bored. Songs like Nothing Left but Silence and De Profundis go more for a slow, bleak crawl with desperate sounding vocals and doom synth lines, to end on the last plucked and distorted licks on De Profundis are a great way to close out an album feeling sad because the song has that much bleakness and desperation packed away just for the ending chords of The End of the World. While some songs do get overactive with the chugs, there's enough energy in the guitars and enough atmosphere in the keyboard to keep this going for a good long time. The End of the World plays as an imposing album of grim, groovy, industrialized soundscapes.

The End of the World is a good album and it's worth your time to give it a good long listen. I'd be happy about telling metal fans about this since it handles itself so well on so many fronts. This fusion of industrial black metal is a unique listen that unleashes a cybernetic apocalypse through your speakers.

Industrial Black Metal is a seriously bashed genre, most "kvlt" fanboys tend to hate on this subgenre solely on the fact that it makes ample use of synthesizers, I personally started listening industrial metal back when I was around 5 - 6 years old and loved it since then, I still enjoy it, although my tastes have varied considerably, I still have a soft spot for industrial.

Godkiller, yet another one-man project comes forward from among the many one-man bands and brings us "The End of the World" a decent, solid and quite enjoyable.

To begin with, I must warn you, this album sounds is a bit inclined towards traditional industrial metal instead of black metal, still, the influences are clear in the vocals, lyrical themes and some of the riffs, among other influences are small hints of death metal riffing, but they are quite scarce and don't quite stand out, the production is good, not excellent, but good, everything in here is clear enough to listenable, I particularly enjoy the sound of the drums.

Regarding the vocals, Duke Satanael makes use of both harsh vocals, a bit of growls and clear vocals, Duke's clean voice is not impressive, pretty average, but it is still an interesting relief from the usual "extreme vocals", his growls are not particularly low, although it soon becomes clear that this was intentional, his harsh vocals are actually discernable and easy to understand, there is quite a bit of vocal variation here to keep the album entertaining throughout the album.

The guitar work in this one is particularly sweet, the riffs sound groovy and are mostly played in mid-tempo, there are no solos, which comes as no surprise as neither black metal nor industrial metal are known to use many of these, yet the riffs are memorable enough to make up for the lack of them, the riffs in particular remind me strongly of Samael's controversial album "Ceremony of Opposites", both having groovy, mid-tempo riffs, it is in fact quite likely that Samael has been an important source of inspiration for Duke and Godkiller, as this album borrows a lot of aspects from it, including keyboard sections, occassionally the keyboards sound a bit like poorly tuned synthesizer, similar to the synth sound in Burzum's "Dauði Baldrs", luckily these moments are short and do not make important appearances; other synths are used as support for the riffs as is usual in industrial metal, giving it these futuristic sound.

The bass is a bit low on the mix, not much effort was put here, as it seems the bass was relegated to the typical guitar support duty.

The drums are something I thoroughly enjoyed, Duke is a quite decent drummer, some sections make ample use of double bass, and, while not exactly "fast" it is however quite well balanced and coordinated, the drumming may not be fast or overtly technical, but it is excellently done, with some ear-catching fills and grooves here and there that really add up to the whole sound of the album.

Overall, this as enjoyable album, it's not fast, it's not insanely brutal, take it as a candy, enjoy it slowly and appreciate it, most black metal fans would find this album not worthy of their troo koolt ears, however, I'm quite sure that does who hear it will enjoy it, specially fans of Samael's "Ceremony of Opposites" and "Passage"

This is the first Godkiller full lenght, two years after the great Mini CD "The rebirth of the middle ages". It was released fot the italian label Wounded Love. With this album, Duke takes a change of style from the previous works: it is not a medieval/war black metal, but an industrialized black metal that however contains some medieval atmospheres, as we can realize looking to the artwork.
Except for the 3rd song, "Down Under Ground", music has good guitar riffs supported by simple keyboard passages (sometimes electronic), in perfect Godkiller style. Especially the 1st and the 2nd tracks creates great atmospheres, reminding sometimes bands as Samael.
The 3rd song is a completely electronic song, it seems a track of one of the lastest The Kovenant albums. It's very different from the other album tracks and I think it doesn't fit well, it's not suitable to the rest of the cd.
Duke vocals are different from the previous MCD, now voice is growling and Duke uses more clean vocals, especially in the last song.
Now lyrics are about pain, anti religion, not war themes.
I don't know why Godkiller decided to change their great band logo, but it can be seen as a further way to take distance from the previous style.