God Dethroned is a Dutch

extreme metal Extreme metal is a loosely defined umbrella term for a number of related heavy metal music subgenres that have developed since the early 1980s. It has been defined as a "cluster of metal subgenres characterized by sonic, verbal, and visual tra ...

band from Beilen, originally formed in 1990.

Biography

God Dethroned was formed in 1990 by

singer Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or witho ...

and

guitar player ''Guitar Player'' is an American popular magazine for guitarists, founded in 1967 in San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political ...

Henri Sattler, with Hans Leegstra (guitar) and Ard de Weerd. Sattler and Leegstra had previously been in Dysentery; Leegstra, quickly after the band formed, left the music scene altogether. They recorded a demo, ''Christ Hunt'', in 1991, after which Marco Arends joined on

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

. Their first album, ''The Christhunt'', was released on the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

label Shark. Meanwhile, Arends left (to rejoin Altar) and was replaced by Marcel Beukeveld. ''The Christhunt'' did poorly; the label had refused to feature a dissected rat on the cover and did not promote the record at all. Dethroned went on hiatus the following year, in part because Sattler's anti-Christian sympathy was not shared by all, and Sattler formed a new group called Ministry of Terror. In 1996, after that band's 1994 album ''Fall of Life'' and a supporting European tour (with

Impaled Nazarene Impaled Nazarene is a Finnish extreme metal band that started as black metal but have incorporated elements of grindcore, thrash metal and death metal, and have grown more towards hardcore punk. History The band formed in November 1990, with fo ...

), Sattler re-formed God Dethroned with guitarist Jens van der Valk (who did not share Sattler's anti-Christian sympathies either), bassist Beef, and

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drums. Most contemporary western bands that play rock, pop, jazz, or R&B music include a drummer for purposes including timekeeping and embellishing the musical timbre. The drummer' ...

Roel Sanders. With this lineup a deal was signed with Metal Blade, and they issued ''The Grand Grimoire'' in Europe in 1997; the album was released in the U.S. the following year, along with a re-issue of ''The Christhunt'', which featured the original cover art, with the dissected rat. The Grand Grimorie did much better than The Christhunt did, and the band soon entered into a sort of high point. The lineup of Sattler, Van Der Valk, Beef and Sanders would record the album ''Bloody Blasphemy'', which many fans of the band consider to be their best work to date. Successful tours and shows with bands like

Marduk Marduk (Cuneiform: dAMAR.UTU; Sumerian: ''amar utu.k'' "calf of the sun; solar calf"; ) was a god from ancient Mesopotamia and patron deity of the city of Babylon. When Babylon became the political center of the Euphrates valley in the time o ...

Immortal Immortality is the ability to live forever, or eternal life. Immortal or Immortality may also refer to: Film * ''The Immortals'' (1995 film), an American crime film * ''Immortality'', an alternate title for the 1998 British film ''The Wisdom of ...

, and Deicide would later follow. After ''Bloody Blasphemy'', Sanders soon left the band and was replaced by Puerto Rican drummer

Tony Laureano Tony Laureano (born January 25, 1973) is a heavy metal drummer originally from Puerto Rico. He has played for a number of metal bands (either as a full band member or a session drummer) including Dimmu Borgir, Nile, Angelcorpse, Malevolent ...

. Laureano played with the band up till 2003, when he received an offer to join the American death metal band

Nile The Nile, , Bohairic , lg, Kiira , Nobiin language, Nobiin: Áman Dawū is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa and has historically been considered ...

. He would record only one album with the band: 2001's ''Ravenous''. A new drummer was found, Ariën Van Weesenbeek, and the band entered the studio at the end of 2002 to record ''Into the Lungs of Hell''. More problems began to follow, as Beef and Jens were tired with the direction of the band and wanted to push for a more heavy and extreme sound with more anti-Christian lyrics (themes that had begun to start to fade to an extent on ''Ravenous''), whereas Sattler wanted to keep the band at a more melodic and darker sound with lyrics focused more on darkness, horror, nihilism, and other themes. After the recording and a short amount of touring for ''Into the Lungs of Hell'', both the bassist and guitarist left the band, and Henri Sattler had to go look out for members once again. Bassist Henk Zinger was quickly brought into the fold, and Ariën van Weesenbeek recommended Belgian guitarist Isaac Delahaye to the band. This lineup would finish up the remaining tour dates and would go back into the studio to record another album, 2005's '' The Lair of the White Worm''. After touring for a little while, the band then went back into the studio with legendary producer Rick Rubin, and released '' The Toxic Touch'' in 2006 through American. In January 2008, two personnel changes were made. Since Ariën van Weesenbeek had joined Dutch

symphonic metal Symphonic metal is a cross-generic style designation for the symphonic subsets of heavy metal music subgenres. It is used to denote any metal band that makes use of symphonic or orchestral elements. The style features the heavy drums and guita ...

band Epica full-time in December 2007, he was replaced with former drummer Roel Sanders. After a writing period, ''Passiondale'' was recorded and released in early 2009. The album's concept is based on The Battle of Passchendaele during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. Once the album was completed, auditions were held and Susan Gerl was selected as the new guitar player. Shortly after the release Roel Sanders was asked to leave the band and Michiel Van Der Plicht was brought in. In 2010, Henri Sattler stated in a Metal Blade Press release:

"We are halfway through the writing process for a new album, which we will record starting end of May. First, we'll play on the Killfest tour in the U.S. supporting Overkill together with label mates Woe of Tyrants and many other great bands. Abigail Williams' axeman Ian Jekelis will take over touring duties for Susan, with whom we parted ways last January. We will announce the name of our new shredder right before we play our first European festival in May"

Shortly after, guitarist Danny Tunker (Prostitute Disfigurement, Detonation) was announced as the new lead guitarist. The New God Dethroned album ''Under The Sign Of The Iron Cross'' was released through Metal Blade on 22 November 2010 and met rave reviews. It marked the first time God Dethroned became 'Album Of The Month' in the Netherlands' Aardschok magazine. Sattler announced that 2011 will be the last year of the band and their final show will be in December, but they performed at

70000 Tons of Metal 70000 Tons of Metal (officially stylized as 70000TONS OF METAL) is an annual heavy metal music festival that takes place on board a cruise ship. The event is a five-day festival, including one shore day at a select Caribbean destination. Hi ...

festival in January 2012, after which they officially disbanded. Sattler announced that the band will reunite in 2015, performing at the 70,000 Tons of Metal Festival in January. While they will only be a "small selection of shows," according to Sattler, the band does have more shows planned for 2015. But later on, God Dethroned played a lot of shows and in 2017 they even recorded a new album ''The World Ablaze''. ''The World Ablaze'' is the third album of the band's World War I trilogy. The album got high ranks in metal charts. With lead guitarist Mike Ferguson and bass guitarist Jeroen Pomper, God Dethroned's newest album, ''Illuminati'' was released on 7 February 2020.

Musical style

God Dethroned originally formed as a

death metal Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep growling vocals; aggressive, powerful drumming, fe ...

band. When they reformed in 1996, they switched to

blackened death metal Blackened death metal (also known as black death metal) is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal that fuses elements of black metal and death metal. The genre emerged in early 1990s when black metal bands began incorporating elements of death met ...

and stayed that way until the release of ''Into the Lungs of Hell'', when they shifted to

melodic death metal Melodic death metal (also referred to as melodeath) is a subgenre of death metal that employs highly melodic guitar riffs, often borrowing from traditional heavy metal (including New Wave of British Heavy Metal). The genre features the heavi ...

. They are, however, "an important part of the Dutch black metal scene", according to ''The Encyclopedia of Dutch Black Metal''. Their latest albums saw a return to their original blackened death metal sound.

Members

With Full Force 2018" widths="180" heights="180"> God Dethroned With Full Force 2018 02.jpg, Vocalist and rhythm guitarist Henri Sattler God Dethroned With Full Force 2018 10.jpg, Drummer Michiel Van Der Plicht God Dethroned With Full Force 2018 08.jpg, Bassist Jeroen Pomper ;Current Lineup *Henri "T.S.K." Sattler -

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or witho ...

rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., drum kit, bass guita ...

(1991-1993, 1996-2012, 2015-present) *Michiel Van Der Plicht -

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...

(2009-2012, 2015-present) *Jeroen Pomper -

(2015-present) *Dave Meester -

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the feature ...

(2019-present) ;Former members *Ard de Weerd - drums (1991-1993) *Hans Leegstra - lead guitar (1991-1993) *Marco Barends - bass (1991-1992) *Marcel Beukeveld - bass (1992-1993; died 2016) *Jens van der Valk - lead guitar (1996-2003) *Beef - bass (1996-2003) *Roel Sanders - drums (1996-1999, 2008-2009) *

- drums (1999-2001) *Ariën van Weesenbeek - drums (2001-2008) * Isaac Delahaye - lead guitar (2003-2009) *Susan Gerl - lead guitar (2009-2010) *Danny Tunker - lead guitar (2010-2012) *Henk Zinger - bass (2003-2012) *Mike Ferguson - lead guitar (2015-2019) ;Touring musicians *Ian Jekelis - lead guitar (2010 + 2015)

Timeline

Discography

* ''The Christhunt'' (1992) (Reissued in 1998) * ''The Grand Grimoire'' (1997) * ''Bloody Blasphemy'' (1999) * ''Ravenous'' (2001) * ''Into the Lungs of Hell'' (2003) * ''The Lair of the White Worm'' (2004) * ''The Toxic Touch'' (2006) * ''Passiondale'' (2009) * ''Under the Sign of the Iron Cross'' (2010) * ''The World Ablaze'' (2017) * ''Illuminati'' (2020)

Music videos

* Necromagnon (1992) * Under the Golden Wings of Death (1999) * Villa Vampiria (2001) * The Lair of the White Worm (2004) * Poison Fog (2009) * On the Wrong Side of the Wire (2017) * The World Ablaze (2017) * Annihilation Crusade (2017) * Illuminati (2019) * Spirit of Beezelebub (2020) * Book of Lies (2020)

References

*https://outburn.com/interviews/god-dethroned-under-pressure/

External links

* Dutch heavy metal musical groups Dutch death metal musical groups Dutch melodic death metal musical groups Dutch black metal musical groups Blackened death metal musical groups Musical groups established in 1991 Musical groups disestablished in 1993 Musical groups reestablished in 1996 Musical groups disestablished in 2011 Musical quartets Midden-Drenthe 1991 establishments in the Netherlands Metal Blade Records artists {{God Dethroned