Asphyx (1994) - Asphyx

Released in 1994, Asphyx is the band’s third full-length album and the first without Martin van Drunen on vocals. In his place is bassist Ron van Pol, whose guttural, lower-register growl gives the album a different flavor—less anguished wail, more subterranean bellow. With founding guitarist Eric Daniels still steering the riffs, the album retains Asphyx’s unmistakable identity: a grim, war-torn blend of death metal heaviness and doom-laden desolation. But this self-titled effort is often overlooked, perhaps because it sits between the iconic one-two punch of The Rack and Last One on Earth and the later resurgence albums. Yet, it’s a brutal and worthwhile listen, packed with slow-burning dread and percussive thunder.

Tracklist:

1. Prelude of the Unhonoured Funeral

2. Depths of Eternity

3. Emperors of Salvation

4. 'Til Death Do Us Part

5. Initiation into the Ossuary

6. Incarcerated Chimaeras

7. Abomination Echoes

8. Back into Eternity

9. Valleys in Oblivion

10. Thoughtless Souls

11. Asphyx (Forgotten War)

The album begins with Prelude of the Unhonoured Funeral, a grim instrumental that could be the soundtrack to a forgotten battlefield—moody, funereal, and drenched in doom. It leads seamlessly into Depths of Eternity, where the band delivers a lumbering death-doom colossus. The pacing is slow, deliberate, like watching death march at a funeral pace. Ron van Pol’s vocals are massive—less tortured than van Drunen’s, but just as commanding.

Emperors of Salvation brings the tempo up just enough to feel militaristic, bolstered by Bob Bagchus’s signature drumming—primitive, pounding, and precise. This is a war anthem soaked in blood and smoke. Then comes 'Til Death Do Us Part, which starts with an almost Sabbath-like doom section before bursting into mid-tempo death. It’s a perfect example of Asphyx’s push-pull dynamic: riffs that crush, break, and smother in cycles.

Initiation into the Ossuary is one of the most doom-driven pieces here, absolutely dripping with decay. It trudges forward like a ghoul dragging its own coffin. The highlight of the album, however, might be Incarcerated Chimaeras—a savage slab of death metal riffing that’s surprisingly catchy while still sounding like something clawing at the inside of a tomb.

The back half holds steady, with Abomination Echoes and Back into Eternity showcasing Daniels’s knack for writing riffs that feel more like walls than progressions. The melodies are bleak but never overly melancholic; the tone here is nihilism, not sorrow. Valleys in Oblivion opens with a classic slow intro before erupting into chaos, and Thoughtless Souls continues the assault with militant precision.

The album closes with Asphyx (Forgotten War)—a holdover from Last One on Earth that acts like a thematic through-line. Here, it feels less like a reprise and more like a grim reminder: the war never ended, it just got quieter.

Asphyx may lack the raw, iconic vocals of their earlier work, but it makes up for it in consistency and sheer weight. It doesn’t chase trends or overcomplicate. It’s war-torn, mid-paced death-doom from a band that knows exactly what kind of hell it wants to drag you into. It’s not flashy, and it doesn’t need to be—because sometimes, a sledgehammer is more effective than a scalpel.

Personal favorites: Incarcerated Chimaeras, Emperors of Salvation, and Valleys in Oblivion. These tracks carry the crushing tone and apocalyptic vision that define Asphyx, and on this record, that vision is as bleak and unforgiving as ever.