Review: Godeater – Vespera

Style: technical deathcore (mixed vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Vale of Pnath, Fallujah, Whitechapel
Review by: Andy
Country: United Kingdom
Release date: 9 September, 2022

If I were writing this review a decade ago, an intro about the status of deathcore in the metal world would likely suffice, but in 2022, I need to wield more creativity since any -core discussion ends up the same. Unfortunately, Godeater do not easily lend themselves to a more interesting intro. Step back from the band at hand for a moment, though. In my short time writing for this here blog, I have found my musical partner in crime Zach, a nemesis Christopher, and a boss who relates with my weird musical listening tendencies (as well as a whole other cast of wonderful people), but I haven’t struggled writing a review yet. Well over a dozen reviews into my burgeoning career limelighting as a professional (HR says we can’t discuss our paychecks with the public <eye roll>) music critic, I have penned lengthy descriptions for many bands, for better and for worse. And that brings us back to my new victim, Godeater.

The band kicks their sound into high gear almost immediately after a very brief atmospheric intro, pummeling technical riff after riff straight into the first tight, syncopated breakdown. Those more technical guitar passages comprise the strongest parts of the album as Godeater enables my primal desires for heaviness to run amok. Providing a sinister background, synths and droning background guitar pulses sit right behind the fancier fretwork up front doing its fierce work. While that foreboding atmosphere helps distinguish the band from others in the scene, the production is as clean as the sterile hospital room it suggests. The chrome sheen of everything unsettles me at least, providing a clinical fierceness that allows the band to wield their instruments like any band labeling themselves tech ought to. 

Vespera sounds like a million other slightly technical deathcore bands, unfortunately; I’m not a deathcore hater or else my intro would have been about that despite its banality, but the album isn’t too dissimilar from Neurotic Machinery’s this year or perhaps a less tasteful execution of Xenobiotic’s recent EP. Where the album does attempt to differentiate itself, it stumbles occasionally, like the off-kilter piano during the breakdown of “Silhouette.” The clean vocals that eventually pop up initially seemed like a mistake, yet as I listened more and more, I came to appreciate them to break up the induced monotony of other segments, and occasionally hearing the bass in the mix was also refreshing, even if the low end does mostly follow the guitarists.

While overly formulaic at times, Vespera still has its share of cool moments. Closer “Qualia” features a clean guitar solo before the final chanted moments to end the album, and “The Hatchet” begins with a blackened urgency flowing straight out of the previous track that reminds me of Accursed, Vale of Pnath’s EP, but these are the exception, not the rule. The lyrics, too, are quite industry standard–discussions of real life including mediocre rhymes and “tough guy poetry.” At least the vocals are marginally better than the average deathcore band with vocalist Josh Graham letting out throat-eviscerating highs and deep deathcore bellows with equal competence. 

Sometimes as a reviewer, inspiration doesn’t strike, and that leads to a frustrating process. I want to praise Godeater for their wicked, industrial atmospheres and techier parts, but the whole thing blends together so much that I blinked and missed tracks without noticing. With more variety–the spice of life–a less polished, unhinged brutality, or a slightly less clean production job, Godeater could turn heads in the scene, but Vespera only made me head bang a little (better than nothing I suppose). 

Recommended tracks: Self-Surgery, The Hatchet, Qualia
You may also like: Neurotic Machinery, Xenobiotic
Final verdict: 5/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | YouTube | Facebook | Instagram | Metal-Archives page

Label: independent

Godeater is:
– Josh Graham (vocals)
– Ross Beagan (guitars)
– Will Keogh (bass)
– Tim Coulson (drums)
– Andrew Macdonald (guitars)