Artist: Godless
Country: Chile
Label: Nuclear Winter Records
Formats: LP / Cassette Tape / CD
Year: 2026
I have said before and I will say it again, and probably will repeat myself another countless after this one: there must be something in the water down there in Chile. Metal in basically all its forms seems to be in everyone’s blood, and when it comes to Extreme Metal this odd country is almost the ultimate Walhalla. Downside of such a high quality scene is that you have to be either extremely good or have decent label back-up to catch the attention of the oversaturated senses of Extreme Metal fans. Sometimes, however, a band has all the musical qualities you could ask for, yet still seems to miss out time and time again. I’ve always had that feeling about Godless, a band that’s been around for almost three decades now. In discussions about Chilean death metal, they’re actually unfairly overlooked far too often. If you need a reminder yourself as to why that is, just give this new album of theirs a listen, and you’ll remember…
Although the band was formed way back in 1997, I didn’t come across them myself until 2008, when the then-visionary Blood Harvest released the ‘Irreligiosus Nemine Discrepante’ EP, presented as a beautiful double 7″ EP. That year marked the start of the build-up to the resurgence and reappraisal of old-school Death Metal, with the years 2009–2011 representing its peak. Godless were only able to benefit marginally from that underground buzz, despite the fact that their debut album ‘Ecce Homo: Post Lux Tenebras, Pulsio XIII Ultima Ratio’ (2010) was also released by Blood Harvest, and Iron Bonehead Productions followed with the excellent split 7” EP with Unaussprechlichen Kulten (2013), whilst Me Saco Un Ojo released the ‘Sic Luceat Vacuum Nostrum’ 12‘ EP in 2016. Labels with a name and reputation, yet despite this, Godless records could regularly be found in the bargain bins for a song.
If we don’t count the demo tape released in 2021, it’s been almost ten years of silence in the Godless camp. That sort of thing isn’t going to help build any momentum, but by now I get the impression that the band isn’t concerned with that at all and doesn’t really care. And that, in turn, is reflected in the music, which is completely free of trends and hype. Godless simply picks up where they began some thirty years ago; fads come and go, but good Death Metal is, as they prove, timeless. The slightly grinding edge is actually the only thing that, with a bit of goodwill, could be considered a conceptual shift; otherwise, it’s just Death Metal that’s as evil as it is dark. Packed with ingenious tempo changes and swirling riffs that stick in your mind like glue, Godless shows that they haven’t just lost their touch, but have actually perfected it even further.
In other words, the blend of classic Immolation, Morbid Angel and Vital Remains sounds even more intense and gloomier than on previous releases. A certain flair of Mexican Death Metal is also undeniable – this was already the case before, but the even darker sound on ‘Adversus Parousia’ brings this to the fore even more prominently. A comparison with, for example, the older work of The Chasm and especially Shub Niggurath certainly holds true. In other words, just like the aforementioned Unaussprechlichen Kulten, Godless’s musical twin, all of this fits perfectly into the current climate of Evil Death Metal rooted in old-school values. Just as I wrote earlier this week in the review of the new Rotten Tomb album, which was also released on the Nuclear Winter Records label, Death Metal is not about piling up sludgy riffs and growling as low as possible. It’s about riffs and a good sense of atmosphere, and for that, Godless (once again!) is the right place to be.
