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Volbeat found their groove several albums ago and have stuck with it ever since. That groove is a mash-up of two parts metal, one part punk rock, and one part good old-fashioned rock’n’roll of the kind frontman Michael Poulsen was weaned on by his late dad.
They’ve tweaked the formula since – notably in the case of Michael’s voice, meaning there’s a lot less ‘James Hetfield strangling a goat’ in the singing department these days – but it’s still recognisably Volbeat. It’s a formula that works. It might not have kicked the Danes to the same level as Michael’s heroes-turned- patrons Metallica, but a return to Wembley this year proves their success in the UK is catching up with that in mainland Europe. And it’s deserved, too: their frontman is a hell of a songwriter, one of the best in action today.
They’d be stupid to upset the applecart at this stage, and so it proves. As well as its reliably meaningless title, God Of Angels Trust is exactly what’s required from a Volbeat album: that mix of greaser-boy surliness, cap-sleeve t-shirted muscularity and stonking radio-friendly melody. Like 2019’s Rewind, Replay, Rebound and 2021’s Servant Of The Mind, this ninth album has one foot in the band’s metal past and one foot in their more commercial present.
Unlike so many metal musicians today, Michael isn’t scared of writing actual tunes. The verses of Acid Rain have the yearning melody of a mid-80s Bruce Springsteen song before it explodes into a massive chorus, and Time Will Heal is an anthem so arena- ready you’ll be automatically digging into a £20 note for a pint of piss-weak beer and a soggy hotdog without even leaving the house. Demonic Depression’s monstrous riff sounds like it was carved from sessions for the singer’s death metal throwback side-project Asinhell, but its chorus is pure gold once more. At the other end of the scale, In The Barn Of The Goat Giving Birth To Satan’s Spawn In A Dying World Of Doom hitches its predictable metalbilly retread to a title that’s trying way too hard.
Yet sometimes a successful formula can be shackling. This far in, it does feel like they need to shake things up a little. God Of Angels Trust is a good album. Sometimes it’s a great one. But ultimately it’s another Volbeat album, nothing less but nothing more either. They’ve not made their Master Of Puppets, Reign In Blood or ’68 Comeback Special yet, and until they do, they’re not going to join the pantheon of heroes Michael Poulsen is clearly desperate to sit among.
Those multitudes who are already onboard aren’t going to complain about God Of Angels Trust. Those who would rather chew off their own feet than listen to their heavy metal Shakin’ Stevens shtick aren’t going to be converted. It’s job done with this one, no argument, but let’s mix it up a little next time around, fellas.
God Of Angels Trust is out this Friday, June 6. Read a special interview with Michael Poulsen in the new issue of Metal Hammer, out now
