Dutch extreme metal legends God Dethroned has been around for over 30 years presenting tunes with recurring themes related to the infernal hellscapes, war histories, and ancient myths. To this day, they have toured with many renowned names such as Cannibal Corpse, Morbid Angel, Immortal and Marduk. Their sounds have gone through many evolutions throughout the trajectory of their musical career, from death metal during their early years, to melodic death metal, and eventually blackened death metal. They are returning with their new album The Judas Paradox this September, out via Reigning Phoenix Music. While they draw inspiration from a myriad of things ranging from the catacombs or religion, mythology from all over the world, to the story of Judas as well as the nature of good and evil, the Ghost Cult editorial team on behalf of Ralka Skjerseth took a chance to reach out to the almighty God Dethroned to talk about the lyrical influences behind the creative process of this album, the Dutch extreme metal scene, and a lot more things.
Ralka Skjerseth for GCM: First of all, congratulations on the release of The Judas Paradox, God Dethroned! What forms of media (could be music, movies, books, anything..) inspired you the most throughout the creative process of this album?

 

Henri Sattler:  I’m mostly inspired by the research I did for the betrayal of Jesus Christ by Judas. I found out that there are contradicting stories about Judas even in the Bible. In this contradicting story, it is said that Jesus could look into the future and had this grand scheme to be killed in order to return as king of the world and he needed someone to fulfill his plan. That became Judas. But because he could look into the future, it made Judas a victim more than a perpetrator. So this historical theme, because that’s what it is, has inspired me for the title track. And for the other songs, it’s a mix of using tarot cards as inspiration for lyrics, like the “Hanged Man, Hailing Death,” for example. So another historical topic is the song “War Machine,” the “Rat Kingdom” is about the mysteries in the catacombs of the Vatican. We all know there’s a lot in the Vatican that should never see the light of day. So I used that as inspiration. “Asmodeus” is about an ancient demon, probably the oldest demon known to mankind. “The Kashmir Princess” is a conspiracy theory which I turned into half conspiracy theory and half story about a woman, even crazier than a conspiracy theory itself. So just read it and listen to it to find out. “Hubris Anorexia” is about my personal experience of being in confinement. When you wanted to be able to go outside during the pandemic, you were basically forced to take an injection, a vaccination. To be able to play live, to move around freely, etc. But it made me extremely ill for a couple of years. So this song is my testimony to what happened and to the fact that we all were all lied to by the government. “The Eye of Providence” is a song that’s closely related to IIluminati because it’s about the allseeing eye, which is part of the ancient Egypt mythology. And “Broken Bloodlines” is a fictional story about royal family that’s being hampered, so to speak, by inbreed. 

 

GCM: You said that this album draws inspiration from mythology from all over the world. Out of all existing mythologies from various regions, which mythology is your favorite and why?

HS: I like many types of mythology. I like the Scandinavian or Norwegian mythology a lot. I like the Greek mythology, but for some kind of reason I feel that the Egyptian mythology fits best to the themes of God Dethroned because it’s in my opinion closely related to Freemasonry. The books that Allister Crowley wrote and goes more towards the dark side that fits to the image of God Dethroned than any other mythology. That’s why I like it the best.

 

GCM: I see that Greek mythology is one of the recurring themes incorporated in The Judas Paradox. Do you have any particular Greek mythology lore that captivates you the most?

 

HS: Well no, I mean I like Greek mythology in general. There’s nothing in particular that interests me more than something else. The Judas Paradox, Judas and Jesus lived in a time when ancient Greek was the leading language in the world or in that part of the world at least. Maybe that’s why you think that it’s relating to Greek mythology, but basically it’s a story from the Bible that I took and where the story is told from Judas’ point of view. That’s what makes it so special. 

 

GCM: Some of the songs on The Judas Paradox are linked by the themes surrounding the nature of good and evil– I actually have a rather philosophical question regarding this one. Do you think that good and evil have always been inherent in human nature or do they tend to be relative?

HS: Well, I think it’s clear that everybody, every person on this planet, has good and evil inside, but it should not be considered as something black and white. The evil next to the good is not evil in a bad way, in such a bad way that everybody is capable of doing evil things to somebody else. I think that everybody has a side that’s maybe not so good compared to the good side, but I think this is all very relative and should not be taken too seriously. Of course, there’s always exceptions to the rule where people are truly evil and only do harm to other human beings. But in this case I mean it in a relative way.

 

GCM: The symbolism behind tarot cards also happens to be one of the themes that are present in the lyrical aspects on this album. Have you had experiences reading tarot cards before?

 

HS: Not really, I’m just interested in a tarot system. I like the meanings behind the tarot cards.
I like the artwork, I like everything around it because it’s something that interests me. But I’ve never had somebody read tarot cards to me. It was just a different way for me to look at an opportunity to write lyrics and to find new topics to write about, to take things from a different angle. Just to prevent myself from repeating myself when I write lyrics.

 

GCM: What inspired you to delve deep into the discourse regarding Judas as a major theme on this album?

HS: It was just sheer accident, just pure coincidence that I happened to think about this Judas situation and that I decided to dive into it and to do some research like I usually do for historical themes. So it’s the major theme because it’s the title track of the album. It’s not a major theme in all the songs. So it was just something I wanted to point out like I did many times before on previous God Dethroned albums. So yeah, I ran into this topic by coincidence, if coincidence exists actually. And yeah, it was fun to do and that’s it.

GCM: Out of all your experiences playing at various renowned festivals, which one is your favorite experience, and why?

HS: Thats a very difficult question because at the time when you’re playing a certain festival, it’s so overwhelming. I felt so overwhelmed when playing at those festivals that it took me a while to get used to it to be honest. I remember that I played Dynamo Open Air for the first time and I was scared to death to go on stage and the same happened to me when I played the Wacken festival. It was such an overwhelming experience that I found it very hard to enjoy it at the same time. By the time we got to Graspop Metal Meeting in Belgium, which is also a huge festival, it was the first time I really felt comfortable and really enjoyed my time on stage during the show itself. So I guess I should choose that one because of the reasons I just explained. But if you’re blessed to be able to play all the huge festivals, all the big ones, then you can regard yourself a lucky man.

GCM: What bands would you recommend to the ones who are new to the Dutch extreme metal scene?

HS: Written in Blood, Bodyfarm, Doodswens, Graceless, Asagraum, Helleruin, just to name a few.

GCM: I know that it’s an old album I’m talking about, but since you have released a concept album based on the Battle of Passchendaele in WWI entitled Passiondale, it triggered my curiosity– do you have any favorite book regarding war histories?

 

HS: There’s a few. Storm of Steel by Ernst Jünger and The Guns of August by Barbara W. Tuchman.

GCM: Last question from me– top 5 releases of 2024 so far according to you guys?

Judas Priest – Invincible Shield, Necrophobic – In the Twilight Grey, Deicide – Banished by Sin, Ulcerate – Cutting the Throat of God, Borknagar – Fall.

GCM: Thank you for the time and the correspondence, God Dethroned! Best of luck on your future endeavors.

HS: Cheers & grind, Henri

 

Buy God Dethroned’s new album here:
https://goddethroned.rpm.link/judasparadoxYT

RALKA SKJERSETH