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Asphyxiate: Anatomy of perfect bestiality

02/02/12 || BamaHammer

Here we go again. Another Indonesian brutal death metal band.

Luckily, for comedy’s sake, the title of this album ranks right up there with some of the dumbest album titles ever conceived. And much like many of their Asian brutal death metal colleagues, pretty much all of their lyrics are an indecipherable, garbled mess. However, none of that really matters since Asphyxiate deliver a piece of solid if unspectacular brutal death metal.

Ever since I began my meticulous and studious research into the East Asian death metal scene, I’ve come to realize that even though many of the bands from this theater may sound as if they lack an identity of their own, trying desperately to sound like one of the countless American brutal bands, they manage to put their own cultural spin on the sound. The more you listen to them, you begin to realize that the region itself has added a few quirks of its own to make it unique, in particular groovy underlying rhythms that are enhanced by vocals’ “sounds.”

Asphyxiate do an excellent job of providing exactly that sustainable groove that I’ve discovered that I enjoy so much in bands of this ilk. Unlike many brutal death outfits, Asphyxiate pulls back a little of the speed and technicality for a more infectiously groovy approach. The best guitar parts you’ll find on this album have nothing to do with blazing fretboard prowess, two-handed tapping, or inhuman, string-snapping tremolo picking. The best parts are simple, chugging rhythms that entice you to tap your foot or nod your head whenever you hear them. Coupled with the thunderous bass sound behind the guitars, the overall sound of the album is obviously very conducive to those enormous rhythmic grooves.

However, the album’s production makes it sound overly raw, dry, and ultimately too sterile. Everything sounds consistently boxy, for lack of a better word, regardless of what you do while you listen to it. The guitar tone is probably a little too fuzzy and gainy, resulting in an apparent loss of tightness. Now there’s nothing wrong with the production per se. There is nothing irritating or erroneous about it, but it makes the album sound like mindless, generic brutal death, which probably a lot less than these guys deserve. Lackluster productions seem to be an epidemic of this scene, but song quality will always trump sound quality.

One of the problems with this album is the way tracks obscure themselves into anonymity by their generally repetitive sound. Like many brutal death releases, songs are short and to the point, almost to a fault, but sound similar to all the other songs on the record. I do find myself listening to a few tracks more than others (“Knife in womb,” “The insidious theater,” or the relentless “Intestinal stabwound” come to mind), but listening through the album in its entirety isn’t exactly difficult since it’s a shade over half an hour.

Does Asphyxiate transcend the boundaries of death metal paradigms with groundbreaking innovation in their songwriting? Hell no. They just deliver the goods, plain and simple. Ultimately, this album is really only a step above generic brutal death mediocrity, but it does provide some excellent moments of groovy goodness. If you like traditional and extremely brutal death metal that mixes in just enough groovy moments to keep you interested, you might want to give this album a spin or two.

Information
Released: 2009
Label: Sevared
Website: Asphyxiate MySpace
Band
Deddy: vocals
Josh: guitar
Adi: bass
Reno: drums

Tracklist
01. Anatomy of Perfect Bestiality
02. Knife in Womb
03. Gallery from the Killing Field
04. Intestinal Stabwound
05. Torso Putrefaction
06. 340
07. The Insidious Theater
08. Blood Flavor
09. Educations of Murder
10. False Concept of Self Mutilation (outro)

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