GOD DETHRONED - Good news on the western front

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If that Henri Sattler had imagined back in 1991, when he had founded, at the age of 20, GOD DETHRONED, how far this band will carry him, we don’t know. Probably he just dreamed of today’s succes, as any of us at that age. Well, the new album of Dutch, Passiondale, an welcome offensive after the recognition incursion called The Toxic Touch, is a categorical victory, which drew waves of new recruits in their contingents of fans. Privilege to see it done on stage with us, at home - on July 3 in Bucharest, Club Fabrica, and on July 5 in Oradea, in Club Blue Monday - should be supplemented with a discussion, so I took the courtesy of Henri Sattler and we found for you some new things about him, about GOD DETHRONED, about the album ...

You are not the kind of band that hit it with an album or two and then disappear or say, to surrender thanks to the sweet comfort of armchair success, but you've built your position album by album, concert by concert, succeeding in those, here, 18 years of existence, to rise up to see the top of the hierarchy of gender. There's more up there, and notes with which you evolved is almost a guarantee. Do you see things on the top differently from the slopes? Did your position has changed some of your optics, both as a musician, and as a person?
„No, it’s just that I finally see the results coming from many years of hard work. It seems that I became a better songwriter over the years. As far as the critics go on our new album Passiondale, it is our best album to date. That makes me very happy of course. Now it’s time to promote the album live and show the world the songs in a live situation.”
 
No one can say that the band's biography is linear. There have been a lot of personnel changes in time, there was even a hiatus, plus other loads coming along ... Not to mention personal differences... Does the appreciation for GOD DETHRONED's music compensate all these weights, whose exceeding means effort, consumption disorders, sometimes suffering?
„Yes, the love of music in general and GOD DETHRONED in particular made me go through all the problems we faced over the years. Nevertheless it’s a bit of a misunderstanding that we had a lot of personal changes in the band. We only have our second bass player and third guitar player since Grand Grimoire. Now I’m not counting the period where we split up (’94 to ’96) of course. Luckily I still have a good relationship with all our former musicians.”
 
About the recent album, Passiondale, cvasiconceptual, you said a lot of things so far, both in statements and in interviews, so we don't have to repeat the questions about  the rehearse, the songs, how the recordings went etc. You said that the lyrics are important to you. Let us consider this eighth album, about the First World War, a watershed in terms of lyrics for GOD DETHRONED, taking into account that the seven previous albums have had as a central theme religion? Or that was just a pause, to say so, and in the future you will return to the classical themes?
„Religious themes were more important in the early days. Our debut album The Christhunt was merely put to gether to shock and to make a statement. The statement that we are against organized religion. Later the topics became more diverse. I think on Toxic Touch I totally let go of religious topics and Passiondale is dealing with history, which is my favorite subject anyway. We had done more historical themes in the past, but this is our first concept album all based on history, namely World War One. With this concept album we are unique too, because we are the first band who ever wrote a full album about this. This is what makes us outstanding from the competition. I’m happy with the outcome and it may have proven that taking a new direction was a good decision for the band.”

 
If I get good recall, you said in an interview that GOD DETHRONED is not a satanist and not even an anti-christianity group, but that it's trying to convince people that the Bible is a simple book, and Christianity is but an option, as politics, for example. In other words, that every man is bound to be himself when it comes to weigh things before saying yes or no. Taking into account that you are the only member of the band since its beginning in 1991, I'll take that as a personal opinion. Do you believe that you have changed something in the minds of others, or to  broaden a little the scope of the question, troops that promote this idea (and I refer here to those which are satanically proselytism or using Satanism as a vehicle to achieve goals) have any impact on listeners minds? Especially that Satanism is nothing but an upside Christianity, namely the question above - a faith without intellectual support - still remain.
„You are right when you say that it is my personal opinion. However I never tried to convince people to follow my ideas. That’s probably also why only our debut album is dealing with this subject solely. As you said people should think for themselves and not just follow somebody else’s path, so also not mine. I’m against organized religion, so that also means I would never follow any Satanic beliefs.”
 
Returning to Passiondale, it is more aggressive and more dynamic than The Toxic Touch, meaning, in a sense, a return to roots, but a spiral like return, ie a higher level, both the musical structures and technical. Does the drummer Roel Sanders, back in the squad after a "mistake" for eight years, have any influence in this mixture, or do you simply feel like you have to do that? On the other hand, since you have continued experiments on The Toxic Touch, feel that they did not give the expected results?
„The Toxic Touch was an experiment merely and strongly influenced by the two members who have left now. They were extremely highly skilled musicians and felt they had to contribute to the album. At that time I felt pretty empty because of the sickness of my father and was happy that they helped me out putting an album together. Usually I write 95% of an album on my own, but this time (for Toxic Touch) I wasn’t able to. Looking back at it I must admit that the albums stands away too far for what GOD DETHRONED’s music is all about. In order to set the record straight I was very keen on composing an album that would resurrect what we stand for. So I decided to go back to the roots. The return of Roel Sanders on drums was not the main key to this sound, but of course it helped a lot. His way of drumming is pretty typical and connects to Grand Grimoire and Bloody Blasphemy where he left off. So Passiondale would become the album where I would show the world that after difficult times in private life and losing some good musicians from the band I would prove that I’m able to come up with the best GOD DETHRONED album so far. Fast, furious, brutal, but with the melody and melancholy you are used to hear from us.”
 
In recent years, the female metal scene is increasingly obvious. One can say that GOD DETHRONED follows up because of Susan Gerl, the soon recruited female guitarist, but too late for her to participate in the album. Do you think women bring something unique, something specific in metal, maybe changes in the evolution of some kind, the image and likeness of, or just over the tasks of men applying simply equal rights?
„It was actually more simple. We decided to record the album as a three piece and started looking for a new guitar player afterwards. During the recording process some people already found out that we would need a new guitar player in the near future so some of them sent us an e-mail. One of them being Susan. There’s a few rules you have to keep in mind when you play in a band. Namely that there are 23 hours left in a day after you’ve played live on stage for 1 hour. So it’s extremely important that you have people in the band who deal with each other in a positive way, otherwise life on the road becomes very hard. Since we all knew Susan for quite some years we also knew that she’s professional, fanatic and with the right attitude. She’s got good equipment but most important, she plays guitar very well. The fact that she’s a woman didn’t even matter to us at all. Now we have a new type of fans for our band, namely the ones who are totally into her. For me only counts that they like our music too. How they got to listen to it doesn’t matter, it’s the result that counts.”
 
On June 28, when turning 95 years after the assassination of Franz Ferdinand Archduke of Austria-Este (the successor to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire), an event which resulted in triggering the First World War, you will perform a concert in Sarajevo, that is exactly the city the attempt occurred. It seems an excellent idea, which serves perfectly the subject of your last album. What significance has this concert for you?
„I thought if we could do something with the concept after the release of the album, it would bring the concept out even more. It’s a unique chance to play there on exactly that day. Just as special as playing in Ypres in Belgium on November 11th which is the day the peace was signed, ending World War I. And guess what? We already played Ypres on November 11th 2007, exactly 89 years after the end of the war…”
 
In the Storming The Balkans 2009 Tour you have included two concerts in Romania, one in Bucharest on July 3 and the other one on July 5 at Oradea. In 1914, Oradea was located in a territory belonging the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which was one of the main reasons for the entry of Romania into war back in 1916. I know this is a coincidence, but must recognize that that one is interesting. The promoting tour for Passiondale covers throughout Europe, ie countries that were back then in different camps. Do you think that enough time has passed for the old passions and reasons to extinguish and all Europeans to perceive the war in the same way, somehow speculative, which would result in a common perception of your lyrics, either your public is french or german, for instance?
„This what you are describing now is exactly the reason why I decided to write all the lyrics from a neutral point of view. No soldier enters a war because of own benefits. You can only lose in a war, not win. Of course World War One is the result of tensions in Europe in the early 1900’s. The assassination of Franz Ferdinand was just the spark that lit the fire to explode the conflict into war. Now we are a band that is respected in many countries and since we respect all of our fans in all those countries I would never want to show any disrespect to any one of them. I wrote all the lyrics from a neutral point of view to achieve this. It was very difficult to do so and sometimes I thought I would never manage, but now afterwards people praise me for those lyrics…”
 
From the interviews I read, I've noted that your musical tastes are ranging from EMPEROR to PINK FLOYD and from HYPOCRISY to THE SMASHING PUMPKINS. Then why did you choose to express precisely in this area of Death / Black metal? Who decided at the time, emotionality or the intellect?
„Some things cannot be explained. I just follow my heart when I write songs. Listening to non-Death or Black Metal bands sometimes help me evolve my knowledge of writing melodies and harmonies on guitar. Nothing more, nothing less. Being a fan of PINK FLOYD will not cause our music to be soft or progressive. Listening to many music styles is necessary to explore my musical horizons and to become a better songwriter.”

For years I had a question which, I do not know how, but I've managed to forget asking any bands touring. You did play in many cities in many countries. Most of them, for surely, you'd never have got to see, but you've perform there. Doesn't that fact gives you some kind of frustration or even regret?
„Not really. I know what you mean, but I’ve been to the same cities so many times that whenever I get the chance I’m going to do some sightseeing. Sometimes it doesn’t work out, but then I don’t know what I’m missing out do I? I’m not the kind of person who likes to stay too long in the same place anyway and sometimes just seeing the skyline of a city can make me feel happy.”
 
You've been touring outside Europe and through America and Japan. From your point of view, from the stage, are there significant differences between Europeans headbangers and the Americans and the Japanese ones?
„Yes, but that difference does not only count between continents, but also between countries on a certain continent. For example the Dutch audience is more or less an audience that just likes to watch, whereas Americans go totally crazy! Japanese fans just bang their head off and so is there something to tell about fans in every country in the world.”
 
From the second album, The Grand Grimoire, ie twelve years, you've been working with the same label, namely Metal Blade Records. Pretty rare such a happy "marriage". Things are going so well that there's no complaints from any party, or the concessions required of each other are kept in acceptable limits?
„Metal Blade and GOD DETHRONED have always been a good combination. We are at the end of our second contract and we will see what happens now. So far both camps are still happy with the cooperation.”
 
In addition to music, I noticed how GOD DETHRONED is presenting: tidy, cogent, attractive, but without flashiness. I refer both to cover products as well as photos and promotional merchandise. Who decides on the matter and what criteria are taken into account?
„I don’t know how you see flashiness when it comes down to promoting a band. We try to make pics that suit the albums and I think our album covers are more than just decent…”
 
And to avoid asking you only 13 questions, I'll ask one more. In the period 2000-2001 have worked with Tony Laureano, who has an impressive CV. How have you addressed to the latter and why the colaboration stopped working?
„I knew Tony from touring with ANGELCORPSE (when he played drums for them) and touring with CANNIBAL CORPSE (when he was their drum roadie). Later when he left ANGELCORPSE he started doing session work for several bands. We needed a drummer to play on our Ravenous album, so it was a small step to ask Tony. However at that same time he also joined NILE and had obligations to them when it comes down to touring. So we knew we would only have him in the band for the album. Janne from THE CROWN helped us out live and then Arien van Weesenbeek joined our band.”
 
Thank you for your amability and be sure that we can't wait to see you here.
„Thanx for the interview and see you on tour!”
 
 
 
Current members: Henri Sattler (voce, chitară), Susan Gerl (chitară), Henk Zinger (bass), Roel Sanders (baterie).
 
Track listing of Passiondale: The Cross of Sacrifice, Under a Darkening Sky, No Man's Land, Poison Fog, Drowning in Mud, Passiondale, No Survivors, Behind Enemy Lines, Fallen Empires, Artifacts of the Great War.