ASPHYX - Embrace the Death

Celkové hodnocení alba: 38% Rok vydání: 1996 Žánr: death metal Celkový čas: 51:50 Skladby

Review:

Embrace the Death has quite a bit of history behind it. Originally recorded in the time period between 1989 and 1990, it was intended to be Asphyx debut album, recorded in what many consider to be the most evil and occult period of Asphyx, this album captures just that, a tortured sound, a raw hybrid of doom and death metal. Just as the album was to see the light of day, the label folded and this ode to darkness and death/doom metal lay dormant in some basement, doomed to never see the light of day.(get it? Doomed?) Asphyx would go on to record other albums that would gain them international recognition, even getting death metal superstar vocalist Martin Van Drunen (Pestilence, Comecon) to join for a few albums, this album meanwhile saw the light of day years later, showcasing a raw brutality of a time long gone.

The album features the mystic Theo Loomans handling the vocals, a brutality that must be heard to fully understand and believe. Theo (R.I.P.), spews diabolical and dark lyrics with a hatred that can be felt throughout the entire album, truly adding to the simply yet effective guitar riffs that throughout the album change from doom to death and vice versa. The slower doom parts are atmospheric like, and set up the harsher death metal pounding which it intertwines with brilliantly.

On “Embrace the Death” we find many songs that appear on both earlier and later Asphyx albums. “Thoughts of an Atheist” is present here but without the soft guitar intro present on the version found on the “Crush the Cenotaph” demo. This version sounds much cleaner and does the song justice. “The Sickened Dwell”, can be found with Martin Van Drunen on vocals in “The Rack” album. “Streams of Ancient Wisdom” can be found in both the legendary “Mutilating Process” ep and again on the “Last One on Earth” album. “Crush the Cenotaph” is another song found on various Asphyx releases, the crowd favorite “Evocation” found on “The Rack” album and live on the “Crush the Cenotaph” ep is found here but under its original name “Circle of the Secluded”, similarly “To succubus a Whore” is the original name for the song “Wasteland of Terror” found on “The Rack”

The difference between the versions on Embrace the Death to the ones on the other albums is mainly that this album captures Asphyx at its most primitive, the way im sure the band would want people in general to remember them by. Totally uninfluenced by anything but there love for the dark side of life and occultism, “Embrace the Death” must be one of the most haunting satanic albums ever recorded. It is worth picking up just for the fact that you get to hear Theo Loomans spew his hatred unto humanity with his amazingly barbaric voice, and see the original renditions of Asphyx classics, the way they were meant to be heard.

Author: Unsilent_Storms
Source: http://mad-max.nnm.ru/asphyx_embrace_the_death