Genus Ordinis Dei – The Beginning
Genus Ordinis Dei – The Beginning
Eclipse Records
Release Date: 08/12/23
Running Time: 57:15
Review by Oli Gonzalez
7.5/10
Visual aesthetics and storytelling. I believe these are two arts that are sadly dying in music, especially in the Metal genre. It’s too common to see bands create a low budget video they filmed in their rehearsal room or using live footage and class that as an official video, in my opinion. Whilst these may be valid, it seems like a huge opportunity wasted. An opportunity to show another aspect of your creativity and to attract fans to your product. Well, Genus Ordinis Dei (or conveniently abbreviated to GOD) have fully taken advantage of this opportunity and gone well above what is typically expected. Take their full length album “Glare Of Deliverance” for instance.
Each song on the ten track album features its own unique video, each more important than the last in creating a full cinematic narrative. This really drew me to the band and made me want to further explore. Especially as they’re about to release “The Beginning”, their next full length album which according to Eclipse Record website will be “a story of two siblings belonging to a tribe of cannibals in prehistoric times, searching for the truth about their religion, God, and the origins of mankind’s existence”. Is your curiosity peaked? Because mine sure was.
Hailing from Italy, GOD seem to be still early in their career, but already have some impressive feats to their name, having toured with the likes of Lacuna Coil, and shared the stage with the likes of Suffocation and Jinjer. The Symphonic Death Metal act are definitely one to watch and could offer something very unique to the world of metal. So, what was the latest album like to listen to?
Overall, I could sense a solid Symphonic Death Metal backbone throughout the album. This was most prominent in ‘We Are The Strangers’, especially with the use of orchestral elements. The Progressive nature of the song and non-conventional song structure was appealing to me too, keeping me on my toes and guessing. We see a dual vocal attack throughout the album too, alternating between fierce midrange growls to instantly memorable and melodic choruses. Check out ‘Changing Star’ and the stunning chorus of ‘For A New God’ for the best example of these elements. There’s some earth shattering and neck snapping grooves sprinkled around the album for you to get your teeth stuck into as well! Some gnarly stuff there!
I’ve largely described the album as a whole there. This is because, to be honest, not many songs really stand out to me aside from those two I mentioned. That’s certainly not to say it’s bad or a weak album. It’s just there were no major melodic hooks or clearly salient features. Symphonic Death metallers Septic Flesh have been on my bucket list for a while and I get to see them next summer at Bloodstock Open Air. I could easily describe 10 songs of theirs and describe each feature of it and why it appeals to me. I think GOD need to do this and focus on having a unique selling point for each song.
With this being said, I’m focussing purely on the auditory experience here. I headed over to YouTube to check out the four-part video series (four at the time of writing) for the album. Well, that was an experience! I wonder how many hours went into producing this. The narrative is so much clearer and this auditory experience is enhanced tenfold! This is what I find so compelling about GOD and goes back to what I described earlier about the use of visuals in music. GOD have clearly excelled in this area and I believe this will be their unique gift to the world of metal. Whilst they’re a relatively new band and perhaps still not reached their full potential music wise, I’d encourage you to check out any of their video series first before making a full judgement on the band.
TRACKLISTING:
01. Aeternus
02. Changing Star
03. Genesis
04. Change of The Water
05. The Divine Order
06. Blackstone
07. We Are The Strangers
08. Shaman
09. The Dragon And The Sword
10. For A New God
11. Chant Of The World
12. The Fortress Without Gates
LINE-UP:
Nick K (Vox & Guitars)
Tommy Mastermind (Guitars & Orchestra)
Steven F. Olda (Bass)
Richard Meiz (Drums).
LINKS:
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