The very young Tampere, Finland-based label Saturnal Records suddenly came out of the blue with three highly interesting releases; Hellspirit with Dawn Under Curse and On Death’s Wings by Blood Red Fog were the first releases, available as from May 26th 2014 on; check out the reviews I did, posted respectively on August 16th and July 18th 2014.
This review deals with the third release on this new label, created by international super-band Voodoo Gods. They were initially formed as Shrunken Head in 2001 in Tampa, Florida (one of the capitals of Death Metal) by German drummer (but with roots in Kenya) Alex ‘Voodoo’ Von Poschinger (not that known, but he was in Polish act Union for a while; Union was sort of a brief period in Christ Agony’s history…), Dutch vocalist Seth Van De Loo (think: Severe Torture, Centurian / Nox or Infected Flesh) and American guitar player Tony Norman (currently in Belligerent, and formerly in e.g. Monstrosity, Lover Of Sin and Terrorizer). The latter left, FYI, before the band released its first EP (see further). After some rehearsing, but with nothing truly spectacular to add, the trio was finally joined by other talented musicians: first by Polish colleagues Adam ‘Nergal’ Darski (of Behemoth-fame) on vocals and Jacek Hiro (Virgin Snatch, Sceptic, Dies Irae etc.) on guitars, and then by some American guys: co-vocalist / drummer Mike Browning (formerly known of e.g. Nocturnus, Morbid Angel, After Death or Acheron; apparently Nocturnus sort of has been re-formed as Nocturnus A.D. …), bassist Jean Baudin (who also is in Element Of Surprise and Nuclear Rabbit) and guitar player David Shankle (ex-Manowar and in his own project David Shankle Group). The septet (Tony wasn’t part of the horde anymore in mean time, as mentioned above) released the EP Shrunken Head in 2008 via Misanthropica Enterprises. Once again things went silent, and some of the guys (first Mike, then David, and eventually also Adam) left to concentrate on other projects. Alex, Seth and the (rest of the) crew had some more material ready to be recorded, and finally they recruited nobody else but George ‘Corpsegrinder’ Fisher (of Cannibal Corpse-fame) to do the vocals on what would become Voodoo Gods’ debut full length studio album. And for your info, David still acted as guest / session guitar player, and so did King Diamond’s Andy La Rocque, who took care of the studio duties at his (famous) Sonic Train Studio. Conclusion: you can’t blame me to call this band a ‘super-project’, can you?!...
Anyway, Anticipation For Blood Leveled In Darkness lasts for forty minutes and opens with a short, somewhat weird intro (Return Of The Rainbow Serpent). As from The Termination Of God on, the album stands for a timeless form of energetic and groovy Thrash-injected Death Metal, with attention for technical craftsmanship, well-thought structural execution, and a nice balance heaviness - melody. the main parts combine traditional elements with modern ones, and they get strengthened by stylistically well-written additions (intermezzos, solos, yet also the rhythm section of riffing itself). It comes with a hint of Tech-Prog, with a recognizable song writing and ditto performance. The album collects elements from the members’ other bands, yet without sounding like one of them either, and mainly focused on fierce guitar leads and firm rhythm structures. The international combo has the advantage that this album does not sound like an average USDM-act (though there is nothing wrong with that, of course), but still I do miss an own face, for the material is not just recognizable, but from time to time even too evident and predictable. At the other hand, as mentioned before, the average quality is very neat, and on top of it one cannot ignore the massive, professional production.
Carcass-meet-Kataklysm-meet-(later)Death…