GOD – Hell & Heaven

The band God started off in the early ’90s as a fairly traditional Gothic Metal band. They put out a few albums, and then went dormant for a few years. But, you can’t keep a good God down: founding members Constantin Lapusneanu (vocals) and Eugen Lapusneanu (guitars) pulled up stakes in Romania and reformed the band in Portugal, now as a Viking/Pagan Metal act. A new full-length album is expected some time in 2007.

Until that time comes, God has released a five-song EP entitled Hell & Heaven, which will hopefully keep the fans satiated, and give them a chance to check out the band’s new sound. Joining the Lapusneanu brothers on this disc are Arturo Santos, guitars; Telmo Melao, bass; Filipe Colombo Silva Costa, keyboards; and Paulo Silva, drums.

Hell & Heaven has a mostly big, epic feel to it: ideal music to listen to while cruising about in your longboat, looking for stuff to loot and pillage. With the exception of “Mystic Song” (a low-key, mostly-acoustic interlude), the other four songs have lots of big guitars, orchestration, florid keyboards, shouted choruses, pounding drums, and lots of atmosphere. Vocalist Constantin Lapusneanu tops it all off, providing lots of Death Metal-style growls and snarls, in addition to deep, sonorous singing in places. His vocals do a lot to keep the songs interesting and his Death-style delivery isn’t grating, which is nice.

The rest of the band pulls their weight as well — the riffs and solos from Eugen Lapusneanu and Santos are big and heavy, and keyboards are used well, not drowning out the rest of the music. The rhythm section of Melao and Silva helps keep things heavy and fast. Hell & Heaven is not a boring disc to listen to, even if you can’t understand the non-English lyrics on a couple of tracks.

Of the five songs on Hell & Heaven, “Barbarian Gods” is probably the best: it’s big and epic, an ideal soundtrack choice for a night of plundering in the name of your favorite Norse god. The fifth track, “Riders From Hell,” is a remixed tune featuring sampled motorcycle engine sounds at the beginning; not very Viking, but it sure is Metal.

Hell & Heaven is a fairly solid return for God, and makes one look forward to the band’s upcoming full-length release. If you like Viking Metal, you should probably check it out.