Formed in Mosjøen in 1988, Garlikde’th was a departure for what was going on in the rest of the Norwegian scene
at the time. Steeped deeply in thrash, they had little in common with their black metal brethren that ran rampant elsewhere.
Unfortunately, they only managed to produce two demos, First Demon (1990) and Load Error (1991), prior to their dissolution
in 1992. While God Sleeps collects these two demos onto one album for ease of public consumption.
I found this CD interesting and worthwhile. First off, it is just thrash metal worth listening
to. Yes, there are some quality issues, mainly centered on the live tracks, but they are hardly the worst I’ve heard
and hardly uncommon for the genre we are speaking of. The musical style tends to the mid-tempo, with increasing speed and
bursts of full one thrashing, somewhat in the manner of Suicidal Tendencies, but they tend to the harsher vocal stylings most
often associated with black and death metal recordings. Musically, they are also reminiscent of the German outfit, Kreator,
to a certain extent.
And so, should you own this album? Yes, if you like thrash metal, and aren’t scared away
by the growled style of vocals on display here. Although demos, most of the sound quality here is surprisingly good, and
the material itself, while probably not at the very top of the genre, certainly isn’t too far from it. Certainly worthy
of being in the collection of every fan of the genre, especially since new and worthy additions to the thrash metal genre
can be somewhat few and far between sometimes.
