Rockezine.com interview with God Dethroned on Sep 25, 2006

with Isaac Delahaye on Sep 25, 2006


		Please introduce yourself to me and the rest of the world. Hi, I’m Isaac Delahaye (24), guitarplayer in God Dethroned for 2 years now.
		Next month Metal Blade Records will release your new album “The Toxic Touch”. What are the expectations? Honestly, I never know what to expect of a new album, but all I can say is that we –as a band- are extremely happy with the result. Every God Dethroned album is different, and also this time we tried to come up with new angles in addition to our typical sound. Before the first riff even had to be written, we discussed how this new album should sound like and which direction we wanted to take. From the start we all knew this album would be more melodic, groovy and trashy, without losing any aggression and without losing the typical God Dethroned sound. “The Toxic Touch” is definitely our most mature album, and it is how we feel a Melodic Death Metalband should sound like anno 2006. And of course we hope this album will be picked up by as many people as possible. We already have a very big fan base, and I’m sure more people will dig “The toxic Touch” because it’s become a very varied album.
		How did the recording sessions go? This time we didn’t go to the Berno Studios in Zweden as with the last 2 albums. As we heard a couple of great demo’s, recorded at the Soundlodge Studio in Germany, we wanted to go there instead. It’s not as far from home, so we could come and go whenever we wanted. This made the recording process a lot more comfortable. Besides that, producer Jörg Uken has proven to be a very professional guy. He was on top of it all the time and definitely took our playing to a higher level. And I think he did a terrific job with the production and the mixing. “The Toxic Touch” sounds killer
		What’s the best part of your new album? Difficult to answer that question, cause I think every song/part has got its own certain vibe. We spent months of collecting new ideas/riffs/parts and recorded them in the computer. By doing that, we could already delete the weaker stuff. Then when we started rehearsing and putting the songs together, we only used the parts everyone liked. Whenever someone in the band didn’t like a part, we threw it away or changed it, so there’s nothing in there which didn’t get everyone’s approval.
		What’s the worst part of your new album? You should ask me that question again in a couple of years, cause right now I like everything from start to end. It’s difficult to take some distance and be objective when you’ve been involved with something for months. So, for now, I’d say there’s no single weak part on “The Toxic Touch”. This is what we wanted to write, this is God Dethroned.
		What’s your main influence? Personally, I really like modern thrash metal. I’m more of a technical guitar player, so I’ll look at things differently than Henri, and I’ll write different stuff. He’s more of an old school death metal type of player. And Ariën is a very all-round drummer, he can come up with anything. Seeing the great comments we get on the new album, this has proven to be a good combination.
		Can you describe the creative process of making this album? How did the songs get written, arranged and produced. Who does what in the band? Since the new line-up it was the first time we wrote an album all together. Like I said before, we recorded single riffs for quite a while before writing songs. Then we rehearsed for 2 weeks, went into the studio for 1 month to record the songs. We wrote most of the melodies in the studio, and all the solo’s & lyrics were written during our stay at Soundlodge. A couple of songs were made in the studio too actually. Then we went back for 10 days to do the mixing, went to Wisseloord Studios in Holland for the mastering, and that’s basically it.
		What are the expectations for the Vader tour? Are you looking forward to it? Of course! Hanging around in the studio isn’t a lot of fun, and it’s not the reason why you play in a band (not for me at least). Being on the road and playing shows every night is what it’s all about. It’s about meeting your fans, playing as good as possible, improving your performance every single day, etc. You can hang out with people you haven’t seen in a while and have a beer with metalheads who just discovered our music. We’ve got a shitload of new merchandise designs, and our setlist is killer, so it’s definitely worth it to come see us. After all the shows we’ve done in the last 2 years, we’re a tight live band, and that’s what people are paying for, isn’t it!
		If you had 100.000 euros to spare for God Dethroned, where would you spend it on? It think the best plan would be to buy an own tourbus, which would save us a lot of money in the end. And I think most of the money would go to our performance: a lightning system, maybe an own PA, stuff like that. Or maybe we’d go on holidays for a year and get sun burnt, lazy and alcoholic, hehe. Seems like a plan!!
		Is there something I can wake you up for at night? Depends on it… If I’m drunk, you probably wouldn’t be able to wake me up in the first place. If I’m not, you can wake me up for basically anything. I’ve always felt like sleeping is a total waste of time…
		Is there a certain message you`d like to pass on with your music? If so, what is it and why? We won’t deny it has a lot to do with religion. Not that we’re Satanists or something, we just don’t like organised religion (in any form) and people who use religion as a tool to achieve things. Though I’ve got to say that this message isn’t that pronounced on “The Toxic Touch”, cause this album is more about the dark side of life: how people you care about die, how it feels to be locked away, why people can hate each other, how it feels to unwillingly hurt somebody.
		Did you ever visit www.rockezine.com? Yeah, I think there are some older God Dethroned reviews on the website if I’m not mistaken.
		Is there anything I forgot to ask? Maybe!
		Thanks for answering my questions. No problem mate! See ya on the road.
(Jeroen Habets)