Godsnake – Poison Thorn

GodSnake
Poison Thorn
Massacre Records
October 23, 2020
50:08

Good things take time. This saying fits the Hamburg band Godsnake like a fist on the eye. The press release and the internet are silent about the date of foundation. There you only find pithy sayings like this one:

This fat reptile of the genus ‘Serpens Metallicus’ makes its way unstoppably through the noisy undergrowth and takes some prisoners … the number of fans is growing steadily.

The first sign of life is obviously the 2014 EP “Hellbound Ride”. And one year later they probably started with public appearances. Everything before that is more or less in the dark. It has been six years since the EP was released. At Heavy Metal Night 2017 they announced the debut for 2017 as well. But mostly it turns out differently than you think. Only now do the northern lights surprise their fans with the long-awaited debut album “Poison Thorn”.

Even with the opener “Urge To Kill” the Godsnake don’t take any prisoners. Out of the boxes, the bare elemental force slams. After a halfway leisurely introduction, fat riffs and fast double bass attacks can be heard. But by no means unmelodic. The tightrope walk between merciless Thrash hardness and power metal sounds succeeds. The vocals alternate between a clear voice and biting screams. This continues with the title track “Poison Thorn”. And the band does an excellent job of not playing the same song every time. The melody, instrumentation and arrangements are varied here. Need an example? With “Sound Of The Broken” the Thrash part is clearly reduced. That is flawless Power Metal. And “Stone The Crow” leans towards speed metal. “Darkness” starts in the style of a (power) ballad. In the further course of this album track, which is the longest at 6:46 minutes, calm melodies are repeatedly built in between the roasting guitars. For me this is the best song on the album, and not just because of the amazing guitar solos. This is followed by a classic hard rock stomper (“You Gotta Pay”), which steamrolls down everything that stands in the way, and other high-speed blaster (“Blood Brotherhood”, “Hellbound Ride”).

As this list shows, the album is characterized by great variety. Without getting bogged down, Godsnake move in the intersection of Power Metal and Thrash. A convincing debut of the reptile from Northern Germany. One can only hope that this time the musicians won’t let so much time pass before the next sign of life. And above all, that concerts will soon be possible again, because these songs simply belong on the stage.

Godsnake – Urge To Kill (Lyric Video): https://youtu.be/B45lS4NWHi4

Lineup:

Torger – Vocals
Stevo – Guitars
Malt – Guitars
Walt – Bass
Sidney – Drums

Track list:

• Urge To Kill
• Poison Thorn
• Sound Of The Broken
• We Disagree
• Stone The Crow
• Darkness
• You Gotta Pay
• Blood Brotherhood
• Hellbound Ride
• This Is The End