UMUR
"Enter the Domain" is the second demo recording by Dutch death metal act Asphyx. The demo was independently released in early 1989 and it´s the successor to the 1988 "Carnage Remains" demo. The two demos share the same cover artwork. It´s the first Asphyx demo featuring vocals and a real band feeling, as the first demo featured a very lo-fi rehearsal demo sound quality and no vocals. "Enter the Domain" is also a pretty lo-fi, raw, and unpolished demo release, but at least you´re able to make out that the band have composed songs with reoccuring riffs.
It´s an early take on death metal and it features both thrashy riffs, muddy death metal riffs, and sludgy doom metal riffs (and a few acoustic parts which sound pretty horrible). The vocals are raw throaty shouting rather than deep gutteral growling. So while "Enter the Domain" is arguably many steps forward compared to the juvenile and amaturish first demo, this still isn´t the greatest death metal demo from those days...but it put Asphyx on the map. A 2 star (40%) rating is warranted.