ASPHYX — The Rack (review)

ASPHYX — The Rack album cover Album · 1991 · Death Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
UMUR
"The Rack" is the debut full-length studio album by Dutch death metal act Asphyx. The album was released through Century Media Records in April 1991. Asphyx formed in 1987 and released three demos and the December 1989 "Mutilating Process" single before being signed by C.M.F.T. Productions for the release of their debut full-length studio album "Embrace the Death". Unfortunately C.M.F.T. Productions went bankrupt before the release of Asphyx´s debut album, and "Embrace the Death" ended up shelved until Century Media Records opted to release it in 1996. Not only did the release of their debut album go wrong, but lead vocalist/bassist Theo Loomans also left. He was soon replaced by Martin van Drunen, who had recently left Pestilence after disputes over the musical direction. Van Drunen didn´t agree with the rest of the guys in Pestilence about the more sophisticated death metal sound that they wanted to pursue as his interest was in filthy old school death metal...

...Asphyx more than fits that description and in fact "The Rack" is probably one of the most filthy and brutal old school death metal albums out there. Van Drunen has a rather distinct voice and vocal style. A kind of desperate sounding growl/howl and he pushes his voice to the full on this album and sometimes even beyond what is bearable. So beware that the vocals on "The Rack" might be an aquired taste. Asphyx play a filthy doomy death metal style with an organic and authentic almost sloppy touch. There are some crushingly brutal doomy riffs on the album, but the band play both mid- and faster paced parts too. A track like "The Sickening Dwell" has always stood out to me, but the album is generally consistent in quality. But that also means that the album doesn´t feature many highlight nor many lows.

The sound production is crackling with distortion, and "The Rack" is a raw and brutal sounding release. There´s just no end to the savagery here, and the rawness of the sound production is a perfect fit for the material. "The Rack" is a arguably a classic old school death metal album from the golden year of death metal 1991. It´s not a personal favorite of mine, mainly because of the extreme vocal delivery and the equally extreme production values (I´m simply not butch enough to enjoy this album all the way through), but it´s an original and distinct sounding death metal release and deserves recognition for that. a 3.5 star (70%) rating is warranted.
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