Asphyx - Deathhammer [2012]

Asphyx shakes the Earth with this colossal album!

They could build monuments to how brutal this band is. This album is, in short, "Death...the Brutal Way" on steroids; well... more steroids per say. If you are not immediately familiar with these guys, they are from the Netherlands, and play doom death heavy enough to cause tidal waves in Asia and upset lunar activity.

The album kicks off with the best kind of Asphyx riff right from the first second. Those crushing almost crusty power chord riffs match up perfectly with the old school death metal vocals! Another thing is that the first track also comes in with vocals right away, which is usually a dangerous tactic, but matches up perfectly. That really gives the album a strong start from the get go. And right when your neck starts to get sore its is time to mosh it up! A little after the one minute mark there is a bass break that goes into some down beat moshing death. "Into the Timewaste" is such a good song to start the album with. 

The other the option would be to start with the title track "Deathhammer". They really keep up the speed in this song and keep it up although it is a short track. This song is obviously written to be the crowd pleaser. If that thought doesn't cross your mind when the chorus hits with the single vocal line; the thirty second mark in this song will. There is a guitar break and the vocalist says something that is completely not part of any verse and sounds like something that should only be done live, it sounds he is saying "This is true death metal ya bastards!". And by the third track is when the mighty DOOOOOM kicks in.

From this point in the album it goes back an forth between fast and doom; or reg OSDM an doom death. The way things go back and forth here is actually pretty key because it would have been pretty awkward if one half of the album was doomy and the other faster. That would lead people to skip part of the album depending on what kind of mood they are in. And on the subject of doom, there is a song entitled "We Doom You To Death" on here that seems a little comical for a song title, but could not be more appropriate. When you listen to it; it goes from doom to upbeat mid tempo doom thrash, then back to doom. That is just such incredible song writing on their part. 

There is a very good reason these guys have made it as far as they have. This album is a new release of amazing old school doom death. It is hard to believe that it is just February and every release this year has been just magnificent. Deathhammer has really been the icing on the cake so far this year!

90%

Favorite Tracks: Deathhammer, Into the Timewaste, The Flood, We Doom You To Death