UMUR
"Crush the Cenotaph" is an EP release by Dutch death metal act Asphyx. The EP was released through Century Media Records in June 1992. It bridges the gap between Asphyx´s debut- and sophomore full-length studio albums "The Rack" (1991) and "Last One on Earth" (1992).
"Crush the Cenotaph" features five tracks and a total playing time of 21:29 minutes. "Crush the Cenotaph", "Rite of Shades", and "The Krusher" were all recorded in 1991 at Woodhouse Studio in Dortmund, Germany, while "Evocation" and "Wasteland of Terror" were recorded live on November 30th, 1991 in Stockholm, Sweden. Both live tracks appear in their studio versions on "The Rack". "Crush the Cenotaph" and "Rite of Shades" are re-recordings of demos tracks from the July 1989 "Crush the Cenotaph" demo. "The Krusher" would eventually be re-recorded at included on "Last One on Earth".
So it´s not an EP featuring much new material, but of course these versions of the three studio tracks are exclusive to this release. The live tracks are decent, but nothing out of the ordinary for a 1991 death metal live recording. What I´m most impressed about is how well Martin van Drunen sounds live. He has such a unique voice and a powerful delivery.
Upon conclusion "Crush the Cenotaph" is a nice little stop gab release and the band and Century Media Records of course did everything in their power to get as much material on the streets and capitalize on the success of Asphyx and wisely so, because as we all know the success of death metal wouldn´t last more than a couple of years, and during the mid- to late 90s death metal artists who had sold 30.000-40.000 copies of their albums in 1991/1992, suddenly struggled to sell just a few thousand copies. A 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.