Published on Aug 26, 2002
Anyone who’s read this site for some time knows my feelings on
death metal. For the most part, I like it (even if I don’t always
agree with some of the messages in the lyrics), but I’ve felt of
late that the whole genre has been stagnating.
Boy, now I wish I had listened to
Resurrection from Sweden’s own Godgory three years ago, when
this disc came out. It might just have made me born again in my
belief in the creativeness of death metal.
On the surface, you could be forgiven if you weren’t immediately
struck with awe. When you find out the band consists of two core
members – vocalist Matte Andersson and drummer Erik Andersson – and
session musicians, it’s easy to assume that there won’t be much
substance to this music.
Ah, but then Godgory gets things moving with – acoustic guitars?
Whispered, somewhat intelligible vocals? Using lightning-fast speed
only on occasion?
This is death metal? Damn right it is, and it’s impressive,
too.
If Godgory do one thing right, it’s that they take the focus
away from either the music or the lyrics, and focus on the entire
mood of a song. It might sound far-fetched, but listen to tracks
like “Adultery,” “Collector Of Tears” or the title track, and
you’ll discover that Godgory knows exactly what they’re doing. More
importantly, they do it well – so well, in fact, that you don’t
have to strictly focus in on the music or the lyrics, and you
easily find yourself caught up in the whole song. (By the way, the
use of acoustic guitars is well-balanced, and even adds a further
sense of doom at times.)
One can’t even fault their cover of Accept’s “Princess Of The
Dawn,” truly making this one their own by adding these same touches
musically. All around, this is a very solid effort from Godgory,
and
Resurrection deserves to be discovered and revered, even if
I’m doing so three years late.