CoC : Godkiller - The End of the World : Review

Godkiller - _The End of the World_
(Wounded Love, 1998)
by: Paul Schwarz (6 out of 10)

If any of you reading this are hoping for a sequel to Godkiller's 1996 _Rebirth of the Middle Ages_, then you're all out of luck. Near enough nothing of the Burzum/Emperor-esque sound of _RotMA_ makes its way onto _TEotW_. Not that, at least in my view, this is a bad thing: that CD was not greatly to my liking. However, the band who keeps cropping up when I try to liken _tEotW_ to something I have heard before is Samael. Godkiller's likeness is not as great as some others' (who shall remain nameless), but it is still a likeness which is damaging to what is actually a good album and enhancing change of sound for the band. Simple power chord riffs combined with thumping drums, interspersed with such things as chants and keyboards and topped off by rasping and harsh vocals evoke visions of _Ceremony of Opposites_ immediately, and even though "Down Under Ground" features some interesting use of breakbeat drumming, it does not go far enough to escape Samael's wide berth. The fact that Godkiller previously sounded almost nothing like this increases the likelihood that the band decided to cash in on a sound which has brought certain Swiss persons a lot of commercial success and critical acclaim, and hence decreases the aesthetic worth of this otherwise positive change of sound.

Contact: WOUNDED LOVE, Voice: +39 2 89408677; Fax: +39 2 89408688

(article published 1/10/1998)

ALBUMS
16/3/1997	S Hoeltzel	8	Godkiller - The Rebirth of the Middle Ages