God Dethroned

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God Dethroned was formed in 1991 by singer and guitar player Henri Sattler, with Hans Leegstra (guitar) and Ard de Weerd. Sattler and Leegstra had previously been in Dysentery; Leegstra, quickly after the band formed, left the music scene altogether. They recorded a demo, Christ Hunt, in 1991, after which Marco Barends joined on bass. Their first album, The Christhunt, was released on the German label Shark. Meanwhile, Barends left (to rejoin Alter) and was replaced by Marcel Beukeveld. The Christhunt did poorly; the label had refused to feature a dissected rat on the cover and did not promote the record at all. Dethroned went on hiatus the following year, in part because Sattler's anti-Christian sympathy was not shared by all, and Sattler formed a new group called Ministry of Terror. In 1996, after that band's 1994 album Fall of Life and a supporting European tour (with Impaled Nazarene), Sattler re-formed God Dethroned with guitarist Jens van der Balk, bassist Beef, and drummer Roel Sanders. With this lineup a deal was signed with Metal Blade, and they issued The Grand Grimoire in Europe in 1997; the album was released in the U.S. the following year, along with a re-issue of The Christhunt, which featured the original cover art, with the dissected rat.

The Grand Grimorie did much better than The Christhhunt did, and the band soon entered into a sort of high point. The lineup of Sattler, Van Der Valk, Beef and Sanders would record the album Bloody Blasphemy, which many fans of the band consider to their best work to date. Successful tours and shows with bands like Marduk, Immortal, and Deicide would later follow. After Bloody Blasphemy, Sanders soon left the band and was replaced by Puerto Rican drummer Tony Laureano. Laureano played with the band up till 2003, when he received an offer to join the American death metal band Nile. He would record only one album with the band, 2000's Ravenous.

A new drummer was found, Ariën Van Weesenbeek, and the band entered the studio at the end of 2002 to record Into the Lungs of Hell. More problems began to follow, as Beef and Jens were tired with the direction of the band and wanted to push for a more heavy and extreme sound with more anti-Christian lyrics (themes that had begun to start to fade to an extent on Ravenous), whereas Sattler wanted to keep the band at a more melodic and darker sound with lyrics focused more on darkness, horror, nihilism, and other themes. After the recording and a short amount of touring for Into the Lungs of Hell, both the bassist and guitarist left the band, and Henri Sattler had to go look out for members once again. Bassist Henk Zinger was quickly brought into the fold, and Ariën van Weesenbeek recommended Belgian guitarist Isaac Delhaye to the band. This lineup would finish up the remaining tour dates and would go back into the studio to record another album, 2005's The Lair of the White Worm.

After touring for a little while, the band then went back into the studio and released The Toxic Touch in 2006.

In January 2008, two personnel changes were made. Isaac Delahaye left God Dethroned and was replaced with Murder Syndicate guitarist Susan Gerl. Since Ariën van Weesenbeek had joined Dutch Symphonic metal band Epica full-time in December 2007, he was replaced with former drummer Roel Sanders. At the same time, the band announced they were writing a new album with the working title Passiondale.

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