The last time a God Dethroned record came my way, my somewhat underwhelmed response drew a surprising spew of outraged bile from what I could only assume were a few overzealous fans or the band themselves. While I'd never be so smug as to suggest that my criticism was in any way responsible for the creative shift evident on _Passiondale_, it is ironic to find the Dutch quartet successfully tackling more or less every element of their sound I took issue with last time round.

Not that long-time acolytes need start blubbering, mind you. God Dethroned remain resolute in their melodic death metal persuasion, only this time round they've managed to evolve the blueprint enough to ensure that when a track like "Under a Darkening Sky" gets its hooks into you, it sinks deep enough that you'd need surgery to have it removed. Accompanied by a major step forward in their songwriting is a more aggressive bent that on "Fallen Empires" subtly betrays a fondness for Bolt Thrower's galloping war anthems. Having written God Dethroned off as another in an endless queue of disposable European melodic death metal, capable of little more than putting me to sleep, I stand very happily corrected.