I’m sure I’m not alone when I say that I am struggling without live music. Over many years it has become an integral part of life and an essential release from the pressures of daily life. However, bands will be feeling the absence of shows much more and many will be struggling to remain viable, so it is important that we do what we can to help these bands by buying music and merch when possible and generally show our support.
Some bands have thankfully managed to keep going, recording and releasing music during the pandemic, but they are still denied the usual opportunity to tour promoting the release. One such band are Asphyx, who have just released their tenth studio album ‘Necroceros’ and as they cannot tour to promote the album, they decided to play a release show to be streamed to their fans around the world instead.
The live stream started with some tongue in cheek interviews with a few individuals associated with the band mixed with clips of the band in the rehearsal room, before cutting to time lapse footage of the stage being set up for the show. Whereas some bands have taken a minimalist approach to their livestream shows, Asphyx have gone all in with a full stage set, lighting and later on pyros etc.
Not surprisingly, the set opened with ‘The Sole Cure is Death’, the opening track from the ‘Necroceros’ album and it sounded great. This is rampaging, dirty, no frills death metal at its finest. The set continued with ‘Molten Black Earth’ and ‘Mount Skull’, tracks two and three from ‘Necroceros’ and kept the momentum going with their rumbling, doom laced death metal. The new tracks sounded awesome and it was impossible to sit still while listening to these.
Martin van Drunen took a few minutes to talk to the virtual audience introducing the show before taking us back to 2009 for a blistering version of ‘Death…The Brutal Way’ which was one of the highlights of the set for me. There was a shout out to the crew and everyone involved in making live shows happen before we went back to ‘Necroceros’ for ‘Knights Templar Stand’, ’The Nameless Elite’ and ‘Botox Implosion’ (dedicated to “totally dumbass people and greedy surgeons” – Brilliant!) for more aural pummelling. The bands experience really showed making it look effortless as they ripped through these tracks.
‘Deathhammer’ from 2012 followed and I found myself making comparisons to Bolt Thrower and comparing Martin to Karl Willetts (as a huge BoltThrower fan, this is a compliment!). We were then taken back to World War Two for ‘In Blazing Oceans’ telling the tragic story of oil tankers attacked by German submarines and the track was dedicated to the sailors who lost their lives trying to break the blockade. The track was a little slower than some, but its relentless rumbling gave way to an evocative guitar solo which closed the track really nicely. ‘Yield or Die’ and ‘Necroceros’ were the last tracks from the new album to be aired, and by my reckoning all but one were played. Although I only got to listen to the album once before this live stream, I really enjoyed it and the new tracks came across really well live.
Martin then took a few minutes for a bit more chat with the virtual audience, and explained that while they could have charged for access to the live stream they realised that in the current climate not everyone can afford to pay, so they decided to keep it free to allow everyone the chance to see it, but of course stressed that donations would be welcome!
The show was brought to a close with live favourites ‘The Rack’ and ‘Last One on Earth’ which are bona fide death metal classics and despite their age sounded as relevant and urgent as ever. The cameras followed the band back stage where they each grabbed a beer and jokingly proclaimed “This is the Covid vaccine but in liquid”….If only! The bands said thanks and the cameras left. I took that as my cue to head over to the bands Merch store.
In recent years, I have drifted away from a lot of Death Metal, being drawn more towards its black counterpart, but this show has reignited my passion for Death Metal and its gnarly delights.
Live streams are of course no match for going to a gig, but this is about as close as it will get at the moment and I for one am grateful to bands making the effort to put on streamed shows. Let’s hope bands, venues and all the associated industries manage to keep their heads above water during this tough time and we get back to live shows before too long.
Andy Pountney
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