God Dethroned Remembers WWI

God Dethroned

The German death metal band God Dethroned released their ninth record Passiondale this year - an album focused on the stories and feelings or World War One. Vocalist and guitarist Henri Sattler feels very passionate about the subject and how it has affected his life.

"Passiondale is about WWI but without taking a particular point of view or speaking about a specific country, but it gets the idea across of what the war was like." said ." Every time I visited Ypres I saw a lot of war memorials signs, a lot of the grave-yards. The whole city is breathing WWI and it affected me a lot. Then I started doing some research, went to the museum there, and it affected me even more. So I thought I would write an album about that, because I like historical things, and we're done that before - only with one or two songs. So this time I decided to write a whole album about this sort of thing, about WWI, and it turned out really well. I think we are the first death metal band to write a whole album about WWI, and it really got noticed."

With the new album, God Dethroned has embarked on a World Tour, War Propaganda World Tour 2009, which will take them through Canada, the US, South America and Europe. Joining them will be the newest member of the band, Susan Gerl (Lead & Rhythm Guitar).

Henri said “she does a tremendous job, and holds her own" when talking about her talent. "She play leads like she’s done nothing in her life before, and it’s nice to have a lady in the band for a change, it’s not a common thing and it makes a lot of people interested in the band just because of that.”

Get ready to remember WWI through the eyes and ears of Henri Sattler and God Dethroned.

You have a couple new members in the band? How are things going?

It’s not very often an extreme band will recruit a female guitarist?

Passiondale sounds like it could be a follow-up to Bloody Blasphemy. Was that a conscious effort or was it because the keyboards returned?

What inspired you to make a First World War themed album?

Is there an underlying message you wanted to get across with Passiondale?

You guys have been categorized as death metal, blackened metal and melodic death metal. With so many sub-genres in metal, where do you think you fit?

The band is only a couple years away from being 20 years old. Did you ever think this was going to be your career for that long?

With the War Propaganda World Tour, what can we expect?

I had read on a Romanian website that God Dethroned was banned from playing a concert because of the name of the band. Are there protests or upset religious leaders trying to stop you guys anymore?

Where did the name God Dethroned come from anyway?

Interview by Avril Savoie
RockStar Weekly