Like many Metalheads, you may have been introduced to Heavy music by listening to movie soundtracks, video games, or watching the WWE. In my opinion, those are very interesting ways to be introduced to music. It is also the way many underground bands find commercial success. Those mediums were my gateway to Heavy Metal. However, it was not how I was introduced to Aphyxion. Hailing all the way from Denmark, Aphyxion entered the industry with quite an impressive start. From being the youngest band to ever perform at the Wacken Open Air Festival to being called “the new saviours of Melodic Death Metal” by Dom Lawson of Metal Hammer Magazine, and even opening up for Metallica on the two years ago at their Copenhagen show, Aphyxion Metallers has managed to become well-decorated in their career thus far and with their new album, Void (Prime Collective), they have the potential to achieve commercial success.
On Void, what I really like about this record is that the lyrics are very personal and were sourced from a diary belonging to vocalist, Michael Vahl, who stated that its contents were scribed during a very difficult period in his life. I feel that this personal detail really set the tone for how the album was written and composed. On this album, you will notice a cleaner vocal styling which deviates from the band’s Death Metal roots and gravitates towards a more Metalcore sound. These cleaner vocals really helps put an emphasis on how these thoughts and feelings, once locked away and hidden, are expressed to the world. You can tell that the band wants these lyrics to be heard and resonate with the listeners immediately.
This album has a superb production quality, I absolutely love it. Each song was perfectly mastered well. The album started off very heavy with “Fork Tongued,” which gave a combination of heavy riffs and harmonic singing. Some of the songs also had great composition and grooves, but also had great layers to them such as ‘Restless Nights’ and ‘Happily Apathetic.’ A great song where the drumming was emphasized was ‘A Gap In The Sky.’
A song worthy of an honorable mention is ‘Sedate Myself’ as it was very hard driven with up-tempo melodies. I also loved the technical compositions on the song as well. I personally believe that song would be a future entrance theme for a professional wrestler. My favorite song on the entire album was ‘Stronger In The End.’
Overall, this entire album gave me the chills and intensity you feel when watching an action movie complete with a sick soundtrack. It has a lot of commercial appeal and can propel Aphyxion anywhere their dreams desires.
7 / 10
KIM GILL