God Dethroned

"Under the Sign of the Iron Cross is the second concept album about World War One. The idea of doing concept albums is an old idea for which I somehow couldn't find the right topics until a young lad named Isaac Delahaye joined our band in 2004. He happened to live in a town called Ypres in Belgium and this town once was one of the centers of war activities in World War One. Being confronted with its history and being a history freak at the same time, it all became clear to me, this was the concept I was going to use for one of our albums. "Passiondale" turned out to be quite a success and my concept was picked up and appreciated by a lot of people. I felt I had to tell more about this war. It's such an unknown event to may people yet it had a major impact on life as we know it now.



Under the Sign of the Iron Cross tells about different happenings of the war; the battle of Verdun, the Schlieffen Plan and one of histories most well known fighter pilots, The Red Baron. Musically this album can again be classified a soundtrack to a war movie, but this time around the music is even more grim than on "Passiondale", but also includes some over the top hymnic and bombastic tunes that will stick in your brain forever." - Henri Sattler



GOD DETHRONED was formed by main man Henri Sattler in 1990. After one demo they released their debut album 'The Christhunt' in 1992 on a tiny German label. Due to problems with the other band members and the record company, Henri decided to split the band. He then formed Ministry Of Terror, a Thrash Metal band, and released the 'Fall Of Life' album with them in 1994. After a European tour Henri left the band and re-formed GOD DETHRONED. With new band members and better songs in his back, Henri and the new GOD DETHRONED recorded 'The Grand Grimoire' and inked a deal with Metal Blade. Many successful tours followed in Europe, the U.S. and Japan with great Death and Black Metal acts like Cannibal Corpse, Morbid Angel, Immortal and Marduk, just to name a few.



In the meantime most of the renowned festivals were played: Dynamo Open Air, Wacken, Graspop and Summer Breeze. However, not everything went smooth. Drummer Roel Sanders left the band after the US tour promoting 'Bloody Blasphemy'. Nile's Tony Laureano played on the 'Ravenous' album, but couldn't stay for obvious reasons. Janne from The Crown played on the tour and finally new drummer Ari�n van Weesenbeek came in, whose first recording experience with the band was 'Into the Lungs of Hell'. This album was received very well by the press around the globe and again the band toured around Europe and played more festivals like Party San and Summer Breeze.



The time following the release of 'Into the Lungs of Hell' was one of the most difficult periods in the band's history. The band had been together so long that the individual band members had developed new views on life and the band. Somehow the challenge was gone. At a certain point Beef and Jens decided to leave. The remaining band members Henri and Arien wrote a new album, 'The Lair of the White Worm', based on a novel by Bram Stoker. New band members Isaac Delahaye and Henk Zinger joined the band right before the recordings. After the release the band played numerous shows and festivals like the Summer Breeze and With Full Force, headlining tours in Europe and the U.S. as well as support slots for bands such as The Haunted and Bolt Thrower.



In between tours the band worked on a new album and went straight into the studio after the European tour with Bolt Thrower. Two months later 'The Toxic Touch' was completed. After the release of the album the band toured Europe as main support for Vader. Then the band played a number of festivals like Earthshaker and New England Metal & Hardcore fest a.o. and a number of headliner shows across Europe. 'Passiondale' was released after a couple of relatively quite years for the band. The band saw the return of Roel Sanders on drums who also played on previous albums 'The Grand Grimoire' and 'Bloody Blasphemy'. After the recordings guitar player Susan Gerl was added to the band. A tour on the Balkans was set up and based around the historic fact that Arch Duke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary was assassinated in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914.

The band played the same city on the same date exactly 95 years later. Then a massive touring schedule followed which led the band to South America for the first time in its career, followed by a U.S. and Canadian headliner tour, a European tour and then another U.S. and Canadian tour supporting Overkill. The line-up didn't hold through all the tours and Roel was replaced by Michiel vd Plicht on drums and Susan was replaced by Ian Jekelis on session guitars until the band found a permanent replacement in Danny Tunker.



Being happy about the quality and professionalism of Joerg Uken and his Soundlodge Studio, the band went there for the third time to record Under the Sign of the Iron Cross during the summer of 2010. The album turned out to be one of our most extreme records to date, but nevertheless has the typical God Dethroned trademark of catchy riffs and melodies at the same time.