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Asphyx: Death... the brutal way

03/11/09 || Habakuk

I’m fed up with people praising albums just because “they’re so much better than all the new stuff released these days”. A strong 90% of everything released these days is shit, so so the question shouldn’t be whether you’re better than that. A monkey with goat horns is better. The question should simply be whether you deliver good music.

So, Asphyx. I don’t have to give you a rant about their characteristic, sawing guitar sound, van Drunen’s vocal qualities, or the historic value of the band. Also, the fact that this is a great deal better than a lot of modern stuff is appreciated and taken for granted (and doesn’t raise the score), so let’s get to the interesting part. Does “Death… the brutal way” hold a candle to “The rack” and “Last one on earth”? This is the bar they’ve set for themselves, even if they say in the booklet that they basically don’t care. Call it an unwillingly set bar, if it makes you happy.

I had heard the greatly recommended EP they had released before the album, so my expectations certainly were high and I bought the album without giving it a listen beforehand. The very first second put a big smile on my face, as “Scorbutics” kicks off with a massive wall of noise that puts you into the thick of the action right away. The next second is a little letdown though, as the whole thing morphs into a pretty uninspired riff, but another good one and a pretty nasty half-time chorus makes up for that. Track two is “The herald”, bringing a message of some seriously sloppy drumming and a therefore counterproductive good production.

I’ve got to give them that all of these tracks are characteristically Asphyx, though. Well, maybe not the beginning to “Black hole storm”, which is pretty much a weak “The well of souls” copy. Nile did better on that one. During the good parts however, I’m in fact pleasantly reminded of the early albums, but these parts are almost constantly set apart by some unimaginative passages. So, for most of the album it basically comes down to a weighting of good and not-so-good parts. And I can only stress once more that the thick, full production doesn’t help the latter as it’s pretty unforgiving, revealing all facets of the music at hand, no matter how bland. What I’m missing is the kind of nastiness you can’t “produce”, but which is rather a byproduct of a low-fi production. As a result, I, for one, enjoyed the song “Death the brutal way” more on the EP they released a short while ago because of that, after which they traded a bit of speed for a better sound. Hm.

So, if you’re willing to pay for some good old Asphyx vibe during a few really good songs (“Scorbutics”, the title track, “Cape Horn” or “Eisenbahnmörser”), it’s there. Go ahead and get “Death…the brutal way”, as it’s death metal done with conviction, but be aware that this is pretty much it. I won’t skip these songs when they come up on my mp3-player and they probably slay live, but in the end the best thing this album evokes is a strong need to go back and listen to “Last one on earth” once more. Better riffs and songwriting win.

Oh, by the way, there’s a DVD shot at Party San 2007, too, but I don’t care too much about live footage, with some rare exceptions. If you do, you’ll probably like it.

Information
Released: 2009
Label: Century Media
Website: www.asphyx.nl
Band
Martin van Drunen: vocals
Wannes Gubbels: bass, vocals
Paul Baayens: guitars
Bob Bagchus: drums

Tracklist
01. Scorbutics
02. The herald
03. Bloodswamp
04. Death the brutal way
05. Asphyx II (They died as they marched)
06. Eisenbahnmörser
07. Black hole storm
08. Riflegun redeemer
09. Cape Horn
10. The saw, the torture, the pain

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