Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Asphyx - Death... The Brutal Way

Of Fire & War

Mr. Martin Van Drunen has been every cool band that involved war especially taking part of the "supergroup" Hail Of Bullets who released their debut Of Frost & War. But a lot of people wants something new from Asphyx and thanks goodness it happened with Death... The Brutal Way and damn it's deadly in a brutal way (pun intended).

It starts by going full force and gets meaner by the second from slower doomy tempos to rapid headbanging beats shined on by very loud and detailed production. No audio track is left behind or muddied as everything is crisp from the dual guitar attack to even the drummer Bob's floor toms. The snappy attack is necessary for the material done by all of the current lineup of Asphyx. And with members of other excellent Holland bands, they bring their A game experience to Death....



Official music video of Asphyx's Death... The Brutal Way

Asphyx is not scared in making it faster or slower as all of the songs are filled with it but as opposed to something like deathcore where it's overused there is a balance of use and content delivered where it's sparingly presented while bringing the maximum effectiveness of what they have. Great example is the album-titled song (sans the ellipsis) "Death The Brutal Way" where it's the overall approach of what they are with fast unrelentless riffs with Martin's agonizing shout assault that's probably the best I heard from him since 1991's The Rack.

Even with Martin appearing on Death... I started with low expectations because I only listened to The Rack and felt afraid that the other albums might not reach the caliber with the debut album but they made Death... The Brutal Way an intensely awesome death metal album.

9/10

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