In 1997 an alleged Black Metal called Darkmoon formed and released two full-lengths in 1998 and 1999, respectively. An E.P. also saw the light of day in 2001. However, eventually founding member Jon Vesano left the band to join Nile and thus, Wehrwolfe was born. The remaining members of Darkmoon: Chuck, guitars; Devon, bass; and Scott Pletcher, drums, brought along Daylight Dies vocalist, Nathan Ellis, and together they unleashed the best Death Metal debut of 2003.

With a slight nod to Thrash and Black Metal, Godless We Stand is largely a traditional Death Metal release with some modern Death Metal touches. Thankfully, there is no grindcore to be found in the modern touches as this is pure 100% Metal. What instantly hooked me with this release were the vocals. Nathan Ellis provides one of the best Death Metal vocal performances in recent memory. Rare is a modern Death Metal vocalist whose lyrics can be fully understood without the booklet (although that does help), and even rarer is Death Metal with catchy (but harsh) vocal lines and choruses. Death did this very well, especially on Symbolic. That is, choruses and vocal lines that stick in your head as well as they would in most Power Metal bands. Wehrwolfe accomplish this by subtle rhyming schemes and excellent phrasing and timing. Of course, great vocals would be all for nothing if the music backing them up was horrid or uninteresting. Much to my delight this is not the case at all. Backing up the vocals is a very intense and chaotic drum performance. Scott Pletcher’s double bass ranks among the fastest and his fills are all over the place. He seems to know when do fast and catchy runs and when to get technical. Meanwhile the guitars are where some slight influences of Black Metal and Thrash come into play to mix with the more traditional Death Metal. In large though, the riffs are Death Metal based and they to can get quite technical when needed as well. Chuck handles the fast sections very well but can also give the listener some Death Metal groove to keep those heads banging. Also, his leads are quite melodic. While they aren’t quite in the Vital Remains, Dechristianize territory they get rather close at times. The leads never last as long as they did on that ungodly release, but the quality and melodic textures are about the same.

The song writing is very consistent on Godless We Stand. Even though there are abrupt tempo changes the songs never lose their focus and each stands on their own, due in large part to the great vocals. There were a couple of instances, most notably on Bloodstained Honour, where the fast sections started to blur together but Wehrwolfe are a lot better than most current Death Metal bands in avoiding the situation where even the hardened Death Metal listener has trouble identifying individual songs. The lyrics and production are other highlights of this release. The former being well written, if not a tad cheesy at times (once you hear Ellis belt out, “We’ve come to fucking Dominate!” you’re not sure whether to laugh or growl right along). The topics deal with anti-organized religious sentiments and depictions of modern warfare, though they’re both done intelligently. The latter (being the production) is excellent. The guitars perhaps aren’t as heavy as they are in some Death Metal releases but that also means the riffs come through clearer and rarely sound muddy. Likewise, the drums and bass are appropriately powerful with the bass drum in particular having a lot of authority over the rest of the music.

I gave Godless We Stand the number two spot on my 2003 Awards list for “Surprise of the Year” (yes this review is about 8 months overdue) even though it's rather short. Nevertheless, The riffs and leads are explosive, the vocals and lyrics are memorable, and the drumming will make your head spin. So if you’re looking for intricate and brutal Death Metal that doesn’t have any grindcore influences then I highly recommend this very professionally done release.