Volbeat – God of Angels Trust Review

By ClarkKent

Volbeat is one of those rare heavy metal bands that can ascend music charts and see mainstream radio play without sacrificing their core sound. They don’t resort to covers of classic songs (Disturbed, Five Finger Death Punch) or write power ballads (Staind) to achieve popularity. People love them because they sound uniquely like themselves. I first heard Volbeat about twelve years ago on my local rock station. This was when singles from Outlaw Gentlemen & Shady Ladies were dominating the airwaves, and I was amazed by the energy of the performances. However, the problem with popularity is that bands often play it safe in order to broaden their audience. With God of Angels Trust, their ninth album in 20 years, Volbeat hopes to avoid this fate and prove they are the G.O.A.T.

Volbeat plays a mixture of hard rock, groove metal, rockabilly, some country, and a dollop of death metal. Over the years, their albums have mixed and matched from these sounds to varying degrees. While earlier works, like Guitar Gangsters & Cadillac Blood leaned more into high energy heavy metal, later albums like Rewind, Replay, Rebound played softer rock songs. Fortunately, God of Angels Trust takes Volbeat back to their roots–Michael Poulsen and crew bring the fire. With Poulsen as frontman, Volbeat is always worth a listen, no matter what style they play. He is clearly having a blast behind the microphone, and his joy is infectious. He sounds like a mixture of James Hetfield, Elvis Presley, and even Johnny Cash. Just listen to the way he rattles off the song title on “In the Barn of the Goat Giving Birth to Satan’s Spawn in a Dying World of Doom.” He channels all three singers in that one line, and it’s just plain fun.1

Being a radio-friendly hard rock group first and foremost, Volbeat relies extensively on traditional song structures. Yet they employ a variety of sounds to keep things from getting stale. Some tracks reach a near-thrash level of pitch, with furious riffing and blastbeats (“By a Monster’s Hand,” “Demonic Depression”). Others slow things down with standard rock riffs (“Acid Rain”) or low-tuned, doom-like guitars (“At the End of the Sirens”). You’ll even hear some sadboi metal, performed buoyantly on the Weezer-like “Time Will Heal,” and crooned more soulfully on “Lonely Fields.” No matter the style, each tune has memorable hooks, whether it’s Flemming Lund’s lively solos or Poulsen’s catchy choruses. Jon Larsen keeps things steady with his punchy drumming, and he switches tempo seamlessly between these different styles. So yes, with God of Angels Trust you’ll get a formula, but you can still expect plenty of surprises.

As glowingly as I’ve described Volbeat above, one issue they’ve had is bloat—they write too many songs and their LPs are too long. Since Beyond Heaven/Above Hell, they’ve recorded between 13-17 songs per album, with many of those records surpassing the hour mark. God of Angels Trust, however, clocks in at just 10 tracks and a modest 44 minutes. Tempting as it was to slap the coveted 4.0, I don’t think Volbeat earns it. A few songs overstay their welcome, such as the 5-minute “At the End of the Sirens,” and the final track is another weak spot. While it starts off with good energy, it doesn’t do much else to stand out from the pack. There’s a moment when Poulsen utters a Hetfield-like “Go!” only for the guitars to deliver a dud of a riff. Moments like this stick out when the rest of the record is delivering bangers.

Perhaps they’re not quite the greatest of all time, but Volbeat demonstrates they still have it in them to write catchy tunes that hail to a time when the band was younger. Some AMG readers might be put off because Volbeat leans more towards rock-and-roll than heavy metal. Others might see their popularity as a weakness, assuming they sound just like other cookie-cutter, unimaginative rock bands that see extensive radio play. But I say, give them a chance. They’ll charm you, dazzle you, and break through the gloomy clouds fogging your mind to bring in some sunshine. To quote Dr. Seuss, if you’ve never listened to Volbeat, then “you should. [They] are fun and fun is good.”

Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: N/A | Format Reviewed: Stream
Label: Republic/Universal
Website: Official Site | facebook.com/volbeat
Releases Worldwide: June 6th, 2025

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