Asphyx - The Rack (1991)

For me, one of the all-time worst moments in metal history came when I discovered that Martin Van Drunen was no longer in Pestilence. After the the godly 'Consuming Impulse' I was beyond stoked to see what the band would come up with next. See, in those days I wasn't nearly as jaded as I had become throughout the years since as death metal was still in its infancy, so I figured that whatever Pestilence released would at the very least be on par with 'Consuming Impulse'. Well... we'll never know as MVD got the boot and Pestilence decided to write death metal versions of Air Supply songs for their next few releases.

I remember breathing a sigh of relief upon learning that MVD was now fronting Asphyx, not only because he was back in action but also because death/doom is a musical style perhaps closest to my heart than all others.

I'll admit, I had slightly mixed feelings once the music got going. The drummer certainly wasn't the greatest in the world (think a sloppier yet more outgoing Lars Ulrich) and some of the riffs came across as being simply amateurish, which was a puzzle in itself as there are sporadic moments of genius sprinkled throughout in regards to riffery and the occasional lead. Van Drunen himself sounded a bit higher in pitch compared to his work on 'Consuming Impulse', something that I was rather unsure about. Sure, I was weened on the "witchier" sounding vocals of German thrash as those were something of a "prototype" for what would come in the form of standard death metal "singing" but I have to say, once the pitch was deepened my interest was piqued. That's not to say that I turned my back on those who employed the more "traditional" rasp, but I admittedly paid closer attention to those with a deeper "command" (ie Covenant era David Vincent, Glen Benton on Deicide's debut, etc).

As previously mentioned, the riffing ranges from fast to mid-pace and all the way down to doom. The album's slower moments are the draw fro me as I was never terribly enthusiastic over fast paced death metal and the mid-paced sections sound wobbly and uneven due in no small part to the goofy drumming which sounds like someone practicing on a kit made out of pillows and garbage cans. Fake "true schoolers" can whine all they want about triggers but I'll take a nice Morrisound setup over this ANY day of the week.

'The Rack' is an album that I quite enjoyed (despite some of the more skippable material) upon first listen and for a while since but twenty or so years later and it's apparent that it hasn't aged well. In truth Asphyx were really nothing more than a couple of amateur musicians whose ranks boasted that of a name brand vocalist who himself was nothing more than a rookie bassist.

If there's one thing that I have to give credit to Asphyx for, it is their knack for bad ass album covers

My Dying Bride - Like Gods of the Sun (1996)

For a while I passed up listening to this album along with 'The Angel and the Dark River' as I had erroneously figured that since Aaron had completely dropped the death metal vocals the band's music must somehow suck now. Then one day it dawned on me that "you know what? 'Turn Loose the Swans' was largely (though not entirely) devoid of Aaron's growls and that album is one of my favorites", so I decided to check this out after all and once I had I began to feel rather stupid for having written them off.

'Like Gods of the Sun' actually reminds me a bit of Celtic Frost. The pace is picked up a bit from the previous two albums though not considerably so as there no blasts or anything of the sort. Hell, 'As the Flower Withers' had faster songs.

To a degree this album could be viewed as the band's "Black album" as you can tell that they were more interested in writing shorter, catchier tunes than ever before. There are no drawn out riff sequences here and the band rather successfully manages to string together a great bunch of memorable licks and lyrics to boot.

Album closer 'For my Fallen Angel' is easily one of the saddest and most depressing songs you'll hear in your life and I mean that in the best way possible.

Overall a great album and a rather welcome break from the band's usual snail's pace, though in all fairness "The Bride" are hardly a one trick pony and really haven't released a bad album in their twenty something year career. Bravo.

Amorphis - Tales from the Thousand Lakes (1996)

Before Amorphis decided that they had had enough of the heterosexual lifestyle and shoulder-blocked their way from out of the confines of the closet, they were actually a somewhat decent death metal band from Finland.

There are many ways of looking at 'Tales From the Thousand Lakes'. One can be to interpret it as the band "dipping their toes" into one of many vast lakes of homosexuality (that are apparently located in Finland) before deciding to cannonball into its "depths" as they eventually did with 1996's 'Elegy'. Another is to see it as the natural progression from 'The Karelian Isthmus', or more accurately, 1/2 of that album as the other half merely consists of spiced up versions of demo and 'ep' tracks.

I actually really like this album. The band somehow manages to take the softer, melodious aspects of the riffing and bring them to the brink without ever actually falling into the lake of homosexuality. More than a few times things come close to that horrid scenario but are thankfully reeled back in and the sounds of ice cold majesty continue on their wintry path.

The vocals have always reminded me a bit of Barney from Napalm Death which is fine by me as I've always thought he had a killer voice.

The guitar sound is of the Skogsberg/Stockholm/Sunlight variety and fits the music perfectly.

Depending on how "daring" you consider your musical palate to be, this may or may not be the last good Amorphis album as 'Elegy' is the point where the band decided to go full retard what with all of the branching out and such. With TFTTL Amorphis were still safely entrenched within the confines of being a death/doom band.

Obliteration - Black Death Horizon (2013)

I've got mixed feelings on this one. Most of the time I hate it when bands do their best to emulate Autopsy as I've never been the biggest fan of that band. I didn't mind their initial run (Severed Survival-Shitfun) but I was hardly fanatical about them and since the inception of the whole "New Wave of Old School Death Metal" I've actually grown to despise them, so naturally I'm not very fond of those Autopsy cock-boys who jock their style at every turn. Obliteration is one of those rare Autopsy worship bands that I can sort of give a pass to as their albums are without a doubt a chock full interesting and grimy riffs.

Small wonder that that trendiest of trendies, Fenriz, has gotten (ahem) "behind" Obliteration as not only are they from Dark Throne's hometown but are also one of the more successful copy-cats of Autopsy, who are one of the few American death metal bands that manage to get respect from Scandinavians openly as it is apparently safe to do so without one losing credentials in the eyes of other Europeans.

Again, there's not much to say about Obliteration aside from the fact that they're an Autopsy clone that can actually write good riffs and rhythmic sequences. That and they have killer album covers, which for me, counts!

Groovy.

Movie Poster of the Week: Dreamscape (1984)

Godly Enslavement: An Interview with Jeremy Kibort of Desolate

What's happenin' Jeremy? How're the holidays in New England treatin' ya?

Josh brother, things are real good, holidays echh, just waiting for them to be done, another year full of disgust at how a "holy" day is used as a money reaping tool by retail industry.

Alright, what brought about the reunion of Desolate?

Haha funny you should ask..after seeing the fb page you started for Desolate, we could see there was still some fanship there after many years, so we decided to do a reunion just a few shows with the original members..Todd/guitarist just wasn't happening and Eric Roy was just too busy with work stuff to really commit to a practice schedule and basically had to back out. Mike Clayton was into the idea and took up his old drum spot and invited his friend Drew to come jam. Drew had 5 songs down for our first practice and all the songs learned in another couple weeks. We've just felt real good and started writing new stuff. ..

I know you guys have been quite busy playing festivals and shows since the resurrection of the band. How has that been going for ya and what would you say are the big differences from the early-mid '90's to now?

Yeah we've played through the summer and its been great..martyrdoom fest in Brooklyn was definitely a highlight . Things that have changed the most. .the venues I think. There are still a ton of places to play, but quality has suffered as many small clubs don't mic anything but vocals, and the overall sound really suffers. Still the same amount of shit joker promoters as there ever was. .bands too, holy fuck there are so many now. .tons. .some are real good, some are shit. .too many paint their faces and dress all black metal without actually taking the pain of writing dark compositions..not out to start calling false this and that, but fuck! Try writing scary music first. .

1993

John (Pathos) compiled and released your two demos as well as two previously unreleased tracks. Could you tell me how that came about and could you give me a little history on the bonus tracks as well?

Yes, sanity obliterated. .John Dwyer contacted me one day and said its about time for a discography. We had recorded a couple songs before we broke up in 97 , so John had it all remastered to get the songs to sound a little more consistent with each other. .were all pretty happy with it. The two songs at the end of the disc. .Blessings End and Graceful Denouncement are two of the four songs we had most recently written before breaking up and show a more mayhemic, blackened style of Desolate.. a direction we are continuing now. .

I gotta say... watching you guys live (unfortunately only through Youtube ) always puts a smile on my face as the rage and intensity that you exude is unmatched. I always hated bands that just "stood there" looking bored. Is this a conscious thing on your part or are you merely "going with the flow"?

Well thanks dude, no, just going with the flow. .but honestly a band thinks of songs and goes through the trouble of practicing and defining a distinct sound, getting shows, so when its time to play, you're just going to stand there like you cant be bothered? Fuck that. .I'm going to take this song and drive it down your fucking throat. ..why waste the moment you know?

I understand you guys are working on your long awaited debut album. How's that going and what can everyone expect to experience?

Yes we are currently busting ass to get ready to record an album of epic, sick, tale weaving blackened death the way we play it. .for some reason were having trouble shaking the term "old school death metal" which isn't bad, but I can guarantee that's not going to be the listeners first impression

New England's always had a sketchy history as far as death metal bands go. On one hand you have a handful of bands that have sort of been the "flagbearers" of the region (Vital Remains are the first to come to mind) while so many others have for some reason or another remained WAY underground. What are your thoughts on this and where does Desolate fit in? Also, are there any bands from the New England area that you'd like to give mention to?

Yeah from the old school days not many bands survived, Vital Remains certainly has but in general we prepped a good many fans for what was going to become the wave of shitty metalcore and deathcore garbage that followed .. desolate anyways had a very loyal following from the beginning, at times wish we would've thought big picture and stayed together ... in New England nowadays I'd love to give mention to some acts we admire. .Vaettir, Martyrvore, Cold Northern Vengeance, Infested Prophecy, Blessed Offal, Blood Stone Sacrifice ..I'm sure there's a few others that I'll hear and be impressed by and some others that will come off as shit. .

What are your thoughts on the current state of metal, death metal in particular?

There's still some pretty good bands out there, but it's just very saturated. .sooo many bands and perhaps they might have a good singer but the riffs suck, or vice versa. .and part of the sorriest state is all the "core" bands that have stolen from this artform and label it theirs, and unfortunately the labels that used to put out the bands you and I grew up with have flocked to that lame style of shit!

I know there are many who wonder... will Jerry ever resurrect Warhorse?

Haha. .hmm I've asked him and everyone involved with Warhorse is heavily into other projects, all of them quite different. Jerry, myself, Terry from Martyrvore and Dan from Scattered Remnants have been jamming some Warhorse tunes that were never finished and some new stuff also. .we're calling it

"Conclave"

If you could only pick three albums to take with you into the afterlife (any genre) what would they be?

Shit thats tough, I guess Darkthrone - Transilvanian Hunger, Elliott Smith figure eight, Alice in Chains s/t .. fuck depends on my mood upon said day of death.

Alright Jeremy... thanks a million for your time. Last words?

Josh, thanks for always being a supporter of Desolate, you will not be disappointed with the new album. .Get Evilution back together Brother!!

Desolate's 'Sanity Obliterated' is available through Pathos Production's and I seriously recommend you all to vamp a copy or two of this as quickly as possible!

Check out Desolate over at Facebook.