{"id":49977,"date":"2016-09-30T00:00:36","date_gmt":"2016-09-30T00:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=49977"},"modified":"2016-11-22T19:18:07","modified_gmt":"2016-11-22T19:18:07","slug":"album-review-asphyx-incoming-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-asphyx-incoming-death\/","title":{"rendered":"ASPHYX – Incoming Death (2016) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

ASPHYX
Incoming Death<\/strong><\/span>
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\nCentury Media (2016)<\/span>
Rating: 8.5\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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I\u2019ve always been blown away by this Dutch death metal combo, so it comes as no surprise then that Asphyx\u2019s latest juggernaut is the usual hammer to the cranium. Okay, so vocalist Martin van Drunen is the only original member left, but that isn\u2019t going to prevent this veteran band from puking up another frenzied assault on the ears.<\/p>\n

On the back of an EP (Servants Of Death<\/em>, 2016) which featured one new song (\u2018Candiru\u2019) alongside various live tracks, Incoming Death<\/em> certainly lives up to its barbaric title; bringing with it 11 psychotic forays of pure, unadulterated old school death metal. <\/p>\n

We always know what\u2019s coming, the only question being of course is whether it\u2019s good enough? To answer that question, of course it is. The usual fast-paced dynamics fronted by van Drunen\u2019s harsh, volatile tones is what Asphyx has always been about, and so with \u2018Candiru\u2019 we experience a reliable recipe where the combo simply sets out to bash our heads in with their unholy death hammer. <\/p>\n

Of course, it\u2019s not all about the frenzy and the fury; Asphyx are masters of drowning us in doomier moments and these do come \u2013 at times at a cost \u2013 where they tend to wear us down rather than paralyze. This is simply down to some of the slower slabs of weight being a touch drawn out, but there\u2019s still joys to behold with the likes of \u2018The Grand Denial\u2019 and the utterly pungent drags of \u2018Wardroid\u2019 with its buzzing guitar tone. Although the bass of Alwin Zuur feels slightly smothered at times, there\u2019s enough glug, gloom and grotesque death metal on offer to keep the most avid fans happy. <\/p>\n

\u2018Wildland Fire\u2019 is a blaze in the northern sky if there ever was one; a track that cranks everything up to 11 and chugs with complete and utter menace as the drums cascade like black tar onto the ears. Sure, it\u2019s a tried and tested formula for Asphyx but it works every time. In fact, Incoming Death<\/em> is the ideal follow up to Deathhammer<\/em><\/a> (2012), boasting enough heavyweight horror to leave the most hardened deafened and withered. From that opening expression, van Drunen and colleagues belch up the pummelling \u2018Division Brandenburg\u2019 which showcases the battering ram percussion of Stefan H\u00fcskens; a beast of a man whose ugly beats are ideal for Asphyx and their no frills techniques. <\/p>\n

\u2018The Feeder\u2019 is equally monolithic in its trudge; accessibly pounding, it does its job of flaying the bones and feasting on the discarded meat \u2013 the band not out to make any new friends or break ground. Instead, they charge on through the bloody mists like an unbeatable tank on a straight path to destruction. Indeed, van Drunen and company are fully aware that in their plight they won\u2019t be saving lives or winning competitions for originality. Instead, they trudge, traipse, chug and eventually render us weak with their gargantuan cacophony. This is best summed up in those doomier clanks of \u2018The Grand Denial\u2019 where van Drunen\u2019s rasps of terror perfectly accompany the war-torn drudgery of the riffs. <\/p>\n

The title track, rather strangely, is a mere two-minute frantic filler to the equally destructive \u2018Forerunners Of The Apocalypse\u2019 which sounds as if it\u2019s been constructed of steel, bone, oil, blood, silt and other debris. Licks of melody permeate the smog, but it\u2019s still very much the Asphyx as we\u2019ve come to know and love. <\/p>\n

While some may scoff, I for one am willing to once again be submitted by this anaconda of the death metal world. Struggle if you try, but once again you\u2019ll have to give in to the ugly charms of the beast from the Netherlands.<\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ASPHYXIncoming Death Century Media (2016)Rating: 8.5\/10 I\u2019ve always been blown away by this Dutch death metal combo, so it comes as no surprise then that Asphyx\u2019s latest juggernaut is the usual hammer to the cranium. Okay, so vocalist Martin van Drunen is the only original member left, but that isn\u2019t going to prevent this veteran […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[533],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49977","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-asphyx"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49977","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49977"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49977\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49981,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49977\/revisions\/49981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}