Label Spotlight – Godz Ov War Productions

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Discovering a new band or label is always exciting – and in my case, brutally awesome. I was fortunate to meet Greg Rosenstahl of Godz Ov War Productions, who opened my ears to some amazing bands. Based in the metal mecca of Poland, I have to say I enjoyed many of the bands in the Godz lineup.

Godz Ov War is not a place for the faint of heart. Checking out their website reveals all types of music that is guaranteed to crush your senses. Excellent representations of grind, death, thrash, black and some experimental metal to boot! Bands I sampled included Stillborn, Centurion, Embrional and Turin Turambal. While excellent production and musicianship were exhibited by all, my favorites included Genius Ultor and Sphere. I thank Greg for all the metal and look forward to more from Godz!

Genius Ultor (Ataman Productions) is one of the most unique bands I’ve listened to. Their album, Dzien Nocy, has played in my car like a commuting soundtrack for about two weeks. What makes this Stillborn side-project so amazing is both its content AND format.

The band alternates actual ‘songs’ with unique aural bridges in-between. You get 3 minutes of black, grind and a little groove followed by a minute or two of interlude. And these passages are mind-blowing. Themes of war punctuated by sounds including: trains, horns, airplanes, screams, barks, oceans of white noise, kitchen utensils crashing together – just mesmerizing. This is music to usher in Armageddon.

Sphere (Masterful Records) is just a beast of a band. Combining all kind of death (technical, melodic, speed) in one record is difficult. Well, on Homo Hereticus, Sphere does it sometimes in one song. In one of the best titles ever, ‘Sadistfucktion’, Sphere even brings in some blast beats and turns the sound into a grinding monster. The bass and vocals really standout and create a tremendous backbone from which all things brutal are attached!