Let’s talk about Volbeat for a minute. They have a huge following and a ton of people dig ‘em. Good for them. I’m just not their target audience. I was born and raised on Carcass, Bolt Thrower and Deicide. 

Now imagine my response if you told me that Volbeat’s singer and rhythm guitarist, Michael Poulsen was starting a Death Metal project. I probably would have said, “Meh.” If you followed this up by saying it’s really good, I probably would have told you to get fucked.

The joke is on me, because Asinhell’s debut Impii Hora (Metal Blade) is impressive. Teaming with Marx Grewe (Morgoth) and Morten Toft Hansen the trio churn out plenty of tried and true classic Scandinavian Death Metal without a trace of radio rock. Opening track, “Fall of the Loyal Warrior” goes immediately for the throat with heavy riffs and blasting beats, Poulsen leaving the vocals to Grewe’s raspy screams, which perfectly meld with the rest of the album.

Sitting, for the most part, in the Asphyx groove and gurn ball-park, In and amongst the Euro-HM2 riffage are homages to Chuck Schuldiner and the progenitors of the late eighties, as the trios depth of Death Metal love shines through.

With that in mind, if you are looking for something new and fresh you may need to look somewhere else as, while there are plenty of awesome twists and turns to bang your head to, some of the tracks blend into each other, and things go on just a little too long. That said, in the main, Asinhell dishes out plenty of melodic Death Metal, mixed with some Entombed inspired Death ‘n Roll. If you are a fan of classic mid-to-late nineties Swedish Death Metal you’ll find some morbid cuts that will sate your appetite, indeed.

Buy the album here:

https://www.metalblade.com/asinhell/

7 / 10

ANDREW RISCH