Volbeat – God Of Angels Trust

Danish band Volbeat has become an indispensable part of today’s rock landscape for quite some time now. With their distinctive sound, they manage to divide people quite well. For many of my generation, Volbeat likely served as a sort of gateway band to the heavier genre. However, you also hear plenty of detractors of the band, mostly from the camp that has been listening to rock for much longer.

Anyway, Volbeat has now become a worthy headliner, with a show where over two hours, you’ll be singing along and alternating headbanging with boogie. Their previous album, “Servant Of The Mind” was a welcome return to the harder work of their early years. This new “God Of Angels Trust” once again takes that path. It does so in multiple ways. Where a few years back “Dagen Før” was the disappointing single, we now have that, albeit to a lesser extent, with “Time Will Heal.” Made for radio, but far from the strongest track on the album. The meaning of the song is quite beautiful, though. The song deals with the problems Poulsen encounters in life. For example, his father’s death, which he can usually handle well, but understandably becomes too much at times. Earlier, he had already delivered a beautiful tribute to his father with “Fallen.”

Another single, one with the catchy title “In The Barn Of The Goat Giving Birth To Satan’s Spawn In A Dying World Of Doom,” initially brings to mind “Sad Man’s Tongue.” Frontman Michael Poulsen wrote this song with great pleasure. An absurd text in which he must retrieve the fallen angels and bring them to a barn – the title already reveals what kind of ritual is taking place there. And all of this is drenched in the classic Volbeat sound. The same goes for the delightful “Better Be Fueled Than Tamed,” which falls into the category of “Die To Live,” “Pelvis On Fire,” and “16 Dollars.”

Furthermore, we don’t hear any lyrics in their native language on this album. Hit or miss, as it turns out – the aforementioned “Dagen Før” being the miss, “For Evigt” the hit. What has changed since this album is the fact that former Anthrax guitarist Rob Caggiano is also a former Volbeat guitarist. He departed in 2023 and is replaced during live shows by Flemming C Lund.

Volbeat once again delivers an album that has something for everyone, except for the hardcore Volbeat haters. From accessible, radio-friendly tracks to the familiar harder work that made them big. An album equivalent to its predecessor. Once again, a strong album from the Danish giants. (8/10) (Universal Music)