Shadow's Dance

'Shadow's Dance' is my sole Godgory experience. This is the band's 2nd album and after this, they have released two more. Godgory have death metal, gothic moods, thrash metal and shades of prog in their music. This causes both negative and positive effects.

Godgory's music is unbalanced. Death metal parts and melodic lead guitar work remind me of Edge Of Sanity and thrash stuff reminds of Megadeth. Prog felling comes from use of synths and some "unusual" timings, this is not "musician prog". There are 8 songs and they count almost an hour together. The songs are simply too long, usually with not enough variety in them. The opener works very well and it's a good song, long, but it goes on well. Second one is a slow uneventful piece, at least with a good solo part. 'Rotten in Peace' is a Megadeth-style thrasher (vocals imitate Dave Mustaine) and death metal song (yep, Edge Of Sanity style indeed). Guitar melodies are cool, but otherwise the song's quite empty. 'Leavetaking' returns to slower affairs, it's just too looooong and sounds empty... 'God's Punisment' is more thrashing again, with Dan Swanö style (he produced this in Unisound Studios) clean vocals, and is one of the best songs on offer here. 'Make You Pay' has extremely annoying talk-singing (no, not rapping), melodic speaking so to speak. Uhh, it ruins the beginning, otherwise the song is okay (again, over 8 minutes). 'In the ocean Sky' one is an okay instrumental, which melodies keep the song flowing. The title track has this melo-talk again! The song itself is way too long, but has its nice moments, just as the majority of the songs do, but the majority also fail to impress wholly.

I accuse this for poor production job. Drums are programmed and they bring this cold, empty feel to the sound (in a negative way). The rhythm guitar is crunchy, fitting to more aggressive songs, but not into slower ones (guitars could be so much heavier in slower songs for much better effect). Of course there's acoustic and some other guitar stuff too, but nothing spectacular. Playing is okay, but guitarists deserve a mention for the work well done. Generally there's nothing flashy, even though of prog elements. There's 6 guys listed, but only 5 of 'em recorded this, so that explains a lot. I just don't understand why the drums were programmed by the drummer... The cover artwork is lame and eye-catchingly ugly.

This is not bad, just incomplete in many ways. The band have sought for their own kind of sound, but only partly they have managed to come out with some good music. The song material is simply too long at times, as only two of over 7-minute songs are good. Anyways, this is not a totally bad effort and well worth trying for all Edge Of Sanity fans.

(originally written for ArchaicMetallurgy.com in 2002)

Every once in a while a band comes along with something unique that doesn’t get the attention that it deserves. They disappear, leaving behind a treasure or two for those who are willing to find them. Godgory is one of those bands. They left behind four phenomenal albums in their all too short career.

The music is an incredibly mellow and soft death metal. It creates an atmosphere that grips you, and never lets you go. The death metal voice is sad and brooding at times, even when they decide to up the tempo a bit. Then the softer melancholy voice takes over some of the choruses. It works so well. The song Abandon has stuck with me for years, and the title track to the album is more haunting than anything any other death metal band has yet to accomplish.

But one has to be in the mood for it. If you are expecting something harsh and fast, this isn’t for you. I know all too well what it’s like being in the mood for something and giving a new band a more critical than deserved opinion because of it. One should be ready for emotionally charged slower death metal. This isn’t Opeth; it’s something altogether more transcendent than that. It doesn’t bombard you with progression for progressions sake. It crafts a mood with excellence that is missing from too many supposedly moody bands. Opeth are great at what they do, and I’d suggest this for the fans of their early work, but I wouldn’t put them in the same category.

Overall I’d say this is a niche release more than anything. There aren’t going to be enough takers to really drive this aspect of death metal, which is a shame. But if you’re in the mood for something intelligent and mellow with harsher as well as melancholic vocals, get this. Get this as fast as you can!