Ελληνικά
Last Updated on 08:00 PM by Nikos Nakos
No one can deny that the following Asphyx has created over the last – almost – three decades isn’t a notorious one; enthusiasts of the extreme sound, devotees of the death metal genre or even just sane metalheads who are willing to admit that Asphyx kicks our asses since day one, even though Death Metal isn’t their cup of daily tea, agree on that fact.
Originating from Netherlands, Asphyx were formed in 1987 by Bob Bagchus on drums and Tony Brookhuis on guitars, while Christian Colli was chosen for vocal and bass duties. Bob and Tonny were friends for a long time and jammed together. At some point, Bob wanted to play death metal like Hellhammer, Messiah and Death, so he expressed his thoughts to Tonny, who felt likewise and agreed to join him. So, they came up with the name “Asphyx”, Tonny designed the band’s logo and started playing covers of Mayhem, Necrolust, Celtic Frost, Nocturnal Fear and Death. At that point, a second guitarist from Germany named Klaus joined them, but that didn’t work out.
In 1988 Asphyx recorded two demos, “Enter The Domain” and “Carnage Remains”, which (the latter) was recorded at Bob’s attic by just Tonny and Bob. Then in 1989 Eric Daniels and Theo Loomans (RIP 1998) – who replaced Colli in March 1989 – joined Asphyx. This lineup released the “Crush the Cenotaph” demo, which ended up selling approximately 5000 copies worldwide.
Listen to “Crush the Cenotaph” tape here:
A few months later, on December 1989, Asphyx released “Mutilating Process”, a single containing two tracks (“Mutilating Process” on Side A and “Streams of Ancient Wisdom” on Side B) which was recorded at Frankie’s Recording Kitchen, Niew Leusden.
Listen to “Mutilating Process” single here:
After the recordings for the “Mutilating Process” EP, Tonny wanted to progress. As Bob Bagchus has stated: “Tonny’s view of progressing was to get more technical with more guitar solos and loops and so on, while we, Eric, Theo and myself, wanted to get even more heavy and dark! Of course we wanted to play tighter as well, but also to make the song catchier! Tonny’s view on Death Metal was not our view anymore, so he left the band. This was the best thing for Asphyx otherwise we would lose our identity. All heads must point to the same direction, if not, one head has to roll, for the sake of the band. While Tonny was still in the band, we had quite a lot of arguments composing songs. After he left, everything went smooth and natural again!”
In the summer of 1990 Asphyx signed with Century Media. Despite what most people think, Martin van Drunen wasn’t in the band at that point; nor did he bring Century Media with him. Martin was still in Pestilence. Asphyx had already the full deal when we send the unreleased “Embrace the Death” tape. From what Bagchus has said over the years, “Century Media already had Asphyx on the list, even before we sent that tape”.
So, how did Martin join the band? Martin van Drunen and Bob Bagchus were friends since high school and kept in touch over the years. On a Saturday night, after a Pestilence gig with Death and Carcass, Bagchus called up Drunen, who had at that point decided that Pestilence was no longer a right fit for him. The rest is history… Drunen joined Asphyx after seeing the band in their rehearsal place. Both sides bonded instantly and the chemistry between both parties was intense!
Drunen’s first official appearence with Asphyx came along with the release of the band’s first full record “The Rack”, which was recorded at Harrow Production in Losser, Holland, Netherlands. “The Rack” has become a classic Death Metal record over the years and is probably the darkest record Asphyx have ever released. The sick and hellish guitars, the heavy drumming and the blistering venomous vocals of Martin delivered nine tracks that cause major psychological issues. The reason why “The Rack” had / has made such an impression lies on the combination of hyper fast guitars with slower-than-death moments and that traditional – death – metal – meets – doom structures, that, between you and me have created a vast influential school. Despite the thickness and heaviness of the band’s sound in general, the production of the record was considered quite good; it’s raw, with a lot of gain on the guitars, thus the sick atmosphere that builds up as time passes. On a general level the mixing was done efficiently, no instruments overlapping each other.
Fun fact is, that when Century Media listened to the tape thought Asphyx was joking and that there had to be another – real this time – recording of “The Rack”. They even thought of booking a studio themselves so that Asphyx could record from the top, however Asphyx didn’t settle for that. As Bob Bagchus has said: “…this was our sound, what WE wanted and that it was Asphyx, so take it or leave it!”. In the end “The Rack” sold about 80.000 copies worldwide.
After the release of their debut album, “The Rack”, they went on a European tour with Entombed, followed by a tour with Bolt Thrower and Benediction in 1992.
Listen to “The Rack” here:
The band’s second album came out on October 1992; the mighty “Last One on Earth”. Martin van Drunen recorded the vocals alone in the studio without realizing he was already booted from the band. Eric Daniels and Bob Bagchus recorded the music, Ron van Pol did the bass and Martin did the vocals, but they actually never met in the studio. The vocals were intended to be recorded by Ron van Pol however the other members of Asphyx thought the vocal tracks were fine with Martin singing. As a matter of fact, when the rest of the band went to the studio to do the vocals on “Last One On earth”, Harry Wijering told them that Martin had just left, 10 minutes before they came and already did the vocals… Nonetheless, “Last One On Earth” proved to be an extremely brutal and heavy record, with a better production (comparing it to “The Rack”) and a huge deal of Asphyx fans consider it to be the band’s best and unsurpassable record. First of all, the record’s cover artwork is one of the most distinctive cavers ever released, featuring a decaying figure of a priest (could be seen as a zombie) with a huge cross on his chest. As far as compositions go, “Last One on Earth” is not considered a groundbreaking record, as Asphyx had previously shown in a very “graphic” way what they are capable of. There are no surprises here. However, its raw power, aggressive guitars, the ear – penetrating vocals, the morbid and unwholesome atmosphere are enough to make you bang your head against the wall. Incredible playing, outstanding delivery, uncompromised music in general. A milestone, indeed.
Listen to “Last One on Earth” here:
Shortly after the recording of the second album, “Last One on Earth”, Van Drunen left the band, to be replaced by Ron van Pol. Eventually Bagchus left the band as well, and was replaced by Roel Sanders for the recording of the 1994 self-titled album. At that point, the only member of the classic line-up still left in the band was Eric Daniels.
The band’s self-titled album “Asphyx” was released in July 1994 and led to the band’s demise in 1995. “Asphyx” is a much darker, slower, doom-er release than the previous ones. It is evident right form the start, from the very first seconds; it’s even evident by the record’s cover art, which features an angelic form ascending (or descending – that’s pretty vague) probably from the mighty pit while the background is pitch dark. Musically speaking is seems that the doom elements dominate the death metal ones, which (the latter) seem to be just assisting the basic structures of the compositions. Melody and slow passages take over the most part of the record, making you feel that hell has frozen. I’m not saying that bad choices were made; it’s just that this record is to some extend different from what we had perceived as “Asphyx” till that day.
Listen to “Asphyx” here:
In 1996 Loomans and Baghus reformed Asphyx and recorded the “God Cries” album; a record that has caused a great amount of frustration to the band’s fans and press. The two conflicting sides were: “One of the best Asphyx records” VS “That’s not Asphyx, man”. As far as I am concerned the truth lies somewhere in between; it’s a brutal death metal album that has integrated some other – contradicting – elements (contradicting in a way that they seem to be out of the band’s waters) like hardcore, punk, d – beat and groove, along with melodies that remind you of the Swedish death metal. The atmosphere isn’t as dark as we grew accustomed to, but it’s funkier and adventurous, bringing Entombed in your mind; there’s a death ‘n’ roll approach, which works for the band most of the times. What’s delivered sounds like the band has decided to move on a side path or experiment with new ways of composing music, however the band’s character is still strong with this one.
Listen to “God Cries” here:
Around the same time “Embrace the Death” was finally released. “Embrace…” featured typical Asphyx tunes, nothing complicated, no experimentations, to the point of the record being utterly predictable. It seems that the band’s orientations towards its earlier releases are a real thing, since the guitars’ massive riffs and razor-cutting passages are back. There’s a balance between the faster and the slower parts, while the overall rawness and dominating / asphyxiating stuffed – up structures are reminiscent of Asphyx’ earlier works. In addition, the dark, eerie atmosphere is still present and the dedication to the occult was evident throughout the record. The last two tracks of “Embrace…” were taken by the band’s previous “Mutilating Process” release.
Listen to “Embrace the Death” here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-gr6vrWhmM
Nevertheless the band split-up again after that release. In 1996 Soulburn was founded by Baghus and Daniels and together with Pentacle singer and bassist Wannes Gubbels they recorded the “Feeding on Angels” album.
In 1999 they renamed the project Soulburn into Asphyx and recorded the “On the Wings of Inferno” album with the same line-up. “On the Wings of Inferno”, despite its somehow poor production, it has a raw feeling attached to it, but proved to be nothing more than a typical Asphyx record: traditional death metal forms with an inclination towards slower, death –doom passages, guitars walking on a thin thread between hyper fast and smothering slow riffs. On this record, the vocals had been taken care of by Wannes Gubbels, who seems to be right in the middle of his two predecessors’ paths: he combines that sick “Drunen” quality with the thickness and depth Loomans had. Overall it’s a decent piece of work and a pleasure to listen to. No innovations or magic, just traditional death / doom patterns.
Listen to “On the Wings of Inferno” here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4NMsHwb_K4
Asphyx disbanded once again in 2000.
In January 2007, the band re-united again with members of the classic line-up Bagchus and Van Drunen, along with Gubbels and new guitarist Paul Baayens. The decision of bringing the band back together was not something that came up instantly. It was the crew of Party San who came in touch with Bob Bagchus and asked him to reform Asphyx for the 2007 gig. Bagchus at first refused to do so. However, Party San’s crew kept calling until they finally got into Bagchus’ head. He called Martin van Drunen, who instantly agreed with Bob’s invitation, and Eric, who refused due to health issues. Then Martin came up with Paul Baayens and everything fell into place. Asphyx performed in Party San indulging into the crowd’s constant applause and shows of affection towards the band. A few days later, Eric wanted to be member of the band again as a second guitarist.
Watch the band’s performance at Party San here:
A couple of years later (2009), Asphyx were finally ready to release their next full length record. “Death… the Brutal Way” was finally a reality. Although as history has proven, most of the highly anticipated reunions of highly influential bands are crowned by releases that are just a bit above average, Asphyx came bearing a gift that would bash everyone’s brains in. “Death… the Brutal Way” came, saw and conquered. Martin van Drunen delivers brilliantly and the “new” guitarist Paul Baayens proves to be one of the best moves that the band could possibly have done. What’s the result? A brutal, putrid and incredibly powerful record that came to stay. An unbelievably heavy record that acts as a constant reminder of what “death metal with balls of steel” is.
“Death…” was in fact supposed to be a demo release. Paul and Bob were trying out their sound engineering studio. The band record there 6 songs at first and then decided to record some more; the whole thing was utterly spontaneous.
Listen to “Death… The Brutal Way” here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHSbKeEDdz8
Asphyx’ latest full length release is “Deathhammer”; a gloomy, pitch dark, brutal and raw record, showing that Asphyx makes to compromises. A great successor to “Death…”. Even though the years have passed and their career is now a lengthy one, Asphyx are still here to smack you down with a gigantic sledgehammer. The Dutch foursome delivers a solid record of simple yet outstanding guitar work, reinforced by drumming of incredible strength and a vocal bulldozer answering to the name Martin van Drunen. Old – school death metal to the bone, with the good qualities of the past, constantly emitting vast quantities of an unbreakable bad-ass attitude and the energy of 18-year-olds. “Deathhammer” embraces everything Asphyx stands for, while setting the bar really high for both themselves and the rest of the death metal bands of the scene.
Watch the official video clip for “Deathhammer” here:
Asphyx’ entire career is worth of every other band’s jealousy. Well, apart from those frequent split-ups. Death metal fans from all over the world pay their respects to Asphyx and wish to see them perform live in a venue close to them. Those who have already seen them live pray for another gig. This year, Asphyx will be touring in Europe. In fact, to our surprise, Asphyx will be performing in Greece and especially in Thessaloniki, a city they’d never visited before. What are you waiting for? Grab your ticket and join us in this glorious feast. Come celebrate Death Metal side by side with us!
The gig in Thessaloniki will be held at Eightball Club, on Saturday 26th of March!
The Psalm will be the gig’s opening act. There couldn’t be a more fitting band!
See you out there!
