Artist: Godkiller
Country: Monaco
Label: Debemur Morti Productions
Formats: 7″ EP
Year: 2025
Probably prompted because the band’s 1998-released debut album was amongst the first Black Metal albums I’ve heard, Godkiller always remained a special band to me. Surrounded by mysticism and enigmas, Godkiller also delivered fantastic music that defied categorisation and transformed in a chameleon-like manner. Although it always remained a beloved band among those who dug a little deeper or continued to remember the band, Godkiller seems to be getting the recognition it truly deserves again in recent years.
This naturally included the re-release of all the material that Benjamin “Duke Satanaël” Labarrère recorded under the name Godkiller. Peaceville Records and Debemur Morti Productions, among others, re-released the albums and the widely acclaimed “The Rebirth Of The Middle Ages” EP, with the last album, ‘Deliverance’ (originally released in 2000), appearing on vinyl for the first time. Once all that material had been passed over, they shifted almost dutifully to the less common footage. The 2022 compilation ‘We Are The Black Knights’ included both demo tapes, which had previously only been available as a bootleg CD/LP entitled ‘Burn The White Kingdom’ through Burznazg Productions, a bootleg label run by Hendrik Möbus (Absurd, Darker Than Black Records).
But anyone who thought that Godkiller’s book was closed for good is mistaken. Debemur Morti Productions had one song left, which has now been released on a single-sided 7″ EP. However, this is not new or previously unreleased either, as it appeared earlier on the Avantgarde Music/Wounded Love compilation CD ‘In Decay We Trust’, released in 1998. Although the title of this song, “The End Of The World”, reappeared as the title of the debut album released later that year via Wounded Love, as well as its opening track, the version on this 7″ single can be seen as a kind of transitional piece.
The album ‘The End Of The World’ and certainly its successor ‘Deliverance’ presented a colder and almost industrial-like sound, far removed from the mystical and medieval Black Metal of the demos and the brilliant debut EP from 1996. What we hear on this one track is a kind of bridge between both sides of the same coin. The natural and bombastic orchestrations are still present (as is also the case on the debut album, albeit in a slightly less prominent way), but the atmospheric medieval character has largely been exchanged for a grander approach. Especially in terms of production and overall sound; what we hear on this former compilation track is a harbinger of what Godkiller would later go on to do.
This 7″ single, with its sole song, is therefore mainly of value to avid collectors and/or musical history fanatics. Others would do better to focus on the more regular Godkiller material that is now freely available, both in physical form and via the usual streaming services.
