Review by Saxy S for Asphyx - Necroceros (2021)
I wish that I could enjoy Asphyx more than I do. There blend of Death Doom Metal is very different from the stuff that I typically find enjoyable from bands like Swallow The Sun and My Dying Bride; where they use traditional death metal riffage and instrumentation, albeit with slower tempos, fewer thrash adjacent passages and less sweeping melodic phrases. The problem that I have with Asphyx is their consistent use of messy, DIY production and it makes them sound very amateurish. If the band could fix this up, I would have no problem vibing out to them unironically and one of the better displays of "true" Death Doom Metal.
With Necroceros, I have the sneaking suspicion that this group is in the legacy portion of their career, even if I'm not quite sure that they deserve it. I stand by with many of the other reviewers on this website claiming that Asphyx's first two albums: The Rack and Last One on Earth are not as classic as others review base websites claim them to be. They are decent and Necroceros is decent as well, but it falls flat in many of the same ways that previous efforts from this band have for me.
And it's the production, as usual, keeping me from liking this more. Buy a metronome for God's sake! The percussion on this album sounds atrocious! There are countless examples of fading in and out of time, or simply not playing the right time at all! "The Sole Cure is Death" and "Botox Implosion" both have the percussion unable to keep up with the groove during the thrash passages, while songs like "Yield or Die" see the drummer playing in a duple rhythm while the guitar riffing is in triple time. It sounds lazy and disjointed beyond comprehension, and it ruins one of the albums better riffs. I know that some listeners will tell me that this is a death metal record and this is part of the greater appeal, but not like this.
Beyond that, the vocals sound shredded. Look... Martin van Drunen is doing death metal growls into his fifties and that is super impressive, if only for the dedication to the craft. But they do not sound good at all. The raspy vocal timbre does not fit in with the rest of the bands discography, and especially those first two "classic" albums.
Asphyx are at the very least, capable of writing a decent melody and sticking with it. "Molten Black Earth" is an early album standout, while "Three Years of Famine" has the group return to longer song structures, and doing a fairly good job of building and developing themes and connecting them together. I already mentioned the guitar riff on "Yield or Die", and "The Nameless Elite" has one of the better executed Doom to Death connectors that I have heard on a record in recent memory.
What it all boils down to is another Asphyx record. Probably not a great place to step on board if you are new to this group. Go back and check out The Rack and Last One on Earth first, then if you like what you hear, make your way through the discography to Necroceros. But given what I think of those albums already, my opinion is quite jaded. I wanted to like this more.