Czech Black / Death masters AVENGER could already capture my interest with their debut "Shadows Of The Damned" (Breath Of Night Records), and the follow-up "Fall Of Devotion, Wrath And Blasphemy" (Deathgasm, 2001), which had the same level of excellence as the first assault. Due to their Czech vocals and the varied mixture of sinister, yet melodic parts and furious rage AVENGER come along like a cross-breeding of MASTERS HAMMER and traditional Swedish Death Metal. Their melodic feel and sense for dark, moody harmonics is extraordinary and though almost omnipresent free of any softness ruining the aggressive elements in AVENGER's sound. Bewitching leads, the exotic sounding Czech Black Metal vocals, a warm heavy production, surprising breaks and a good feel for tempo variation make "Godless" another exciting musical journey showing the cheesy interchangeable "Melodic Black / Death" bands around how this music should sound and how melody does not mean the death of all that sounds dark, mysterious and hateful! Crowned with a great artwork by Juanjo Castellano which shows some impaled and crucified angels, a thick booklet containing the lyrics in Czech as well as English translation, "Godless" is an album I can only heartedly recommend to people in search for individual sounding gloomy music. And by the way, if you ever get the chance to see this band, don't miss it! They won't surprise you with a special show and lots of visual gimmicks, but AVENGER will reach for your soul with their music, offer musical devotion and skill and will capture you with the spirit that fuels their performance. A special band and a special album for sure... www.deathgasm.com

Stefan Franke

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