Asphyx
Asphyx
[Century Media]
I can't tell you how blown away I was by this album--and it was totally
unexpected! I thought I was just getting some good ol' old-school death metal. Never,
NEVER could I have even conceived how much I would like this. This was my first
real listen I ever gave Asphyx and I'm glad I took a chance and checked them
out. Asphyx is a killer mix of old-school death metal and slow, plodding doom of the
non-depressive variety--just bludgeoning slowness.
The intro song is really cool, probably one of my favorites. It's slothfully-paced death with spoken bits and it leads into "Depths of Eternity", another awesome track. There's something about the guitar sound that I fucking LOVE. It's hard to explain. To many ears, this album would sound quite generic (especially to new-schoolers), but that touch that makes this sound generic makes it rule! Confusing? Well, that's my attempt at explaining one aspect of this band's rulingness. It's not generic in the catchy riffs department, because there are some really kick-ass riffs.
Take "Thoughts of an Atheist" for example. It's one of the faster songs on the album. It starts off with a clean guitar part which segues into some absolutely fabulous double-bassing. Then, THEN--I'm gonna crap myself just typing this!--they slow it down to one of THE coolest HEAVY AS FUCK slow doom parts I have ever heard. After a couple minutes of that, faster speed is attained and all hell breaks loose as the listener is thrown into the battlezone that is the best song on this record. Other goodies include "'Til Death Do Us Part", "Abomination Echoes" (brutal instrumental) and "Valleys in Oblivion". Another noteworthy item is the drummer's use of well-placed double-bass. Instead of using it throughout songs and whatnot, the drummer wisely decided to use it only in certain parts, helping to make the songs that much more powerful, much in the vein of Bolt Thrower's double-bass usage. Someone once told me they found this album to be boring. BAH.
I can't believe how fucked up this review is. This is the definitive Asphyx album and deserves much playage in your stereo. HAIL ASPHYX! R.I.P.!
© 1999 goden
The intro song is really cool, probably one of my favorites. It's slothfully-paced death with spoken bits and it leads into "Depths of Eternity", another awesome track. There's something about the guitar sound that I fucking LOVE. It's hard to explain. To many ears, this album would sound quite generic (especially to new-schoolers), but that touch that makes this sound generic makes it rule! Confusing? Well, that's my attempt at explaining one aspect of this band's rulingness. It's not generic in the catchy riffs department, because there are some really kick-ass riffs.
Take "Thoughts of an Atheist" for example. It's one of the faster songs on the album. It starts off with a clean guitar part which segues into some absolutely fabulous double-bassing. Then, THEN--I'm gonna crap myself just typing this!--they slow it down to one of THE coolest HEAVY AS FUCK slow doom parts I have ever heard. After a couple minutes of that, faster speed is attained and all hell breaks loose as the listener is thrown into the battlezone that is the best song on this record. Other goodies include "'Til Death Do Us Part", "Abomination Echoes" (brutal instrumental) and "Valleys in Oblivion". Another noteworthy item is the drummer's use of well-placed double-bass. Instead of using it throughout songs and whatnot, the drummer wisely decided to use it only in certain parts, helping to make the songs that much more powerful, much in the vein of Bolt Thrower's double-bass usage. Someone once told me they found this album to be boring. BAH.
I can't believe how fucked up this review is. This is the definitive Asphyx album and deserves much playage in your stereo. HAIL ASPHYX! R.I.P.!
© 1999 goden