Asphyx
Formed: 1987
From:
Oldenzaal,
Netherlands
Last Known Status: Regrouped
Latest Asphyx News
Below is our complete Asphyx news coverage, including columns and articles pertaining to the band. Some articles listed may be indirectly related, such as side projects of the band members, etc.
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Report
Brutal Assault 2025 Five Days & 73k Steps of Metal
This year was Brutal Assault’s 30 anniversary and the organizers gifted metal fans with over 140 bands ranging from the avant-garde to the most extreme black metal plus every heavy metal genre in between those two. Even though I was exhausted by the end of the festival, I have nothing but incredible memories to look back upon. If you’re into statistics the following are Metalunderground’s for the fest: Thirty-four bands covered, two face-to-face interviews (Gene Hoglan from Dark Angel and Malevolent Creation), 73,000 steps with temperatures ranging from the upper 50’s to the middle 80’s Fahrenheit over a five-day span with fifteen minutes of rain on the warm-up day. Not too shabby.
If this is your first time hearing about this festival, I’ll make this quick. Brutal Assault takes place at the 18th century Josefov Fortress located in the metalhead friendly town of Jaromer, located on the eastern edge of the Czech Republic. The fortress has served as Brutal Assault’s home base since 2012 and its massive worn brick walls and labyrinth of hallways and catacombs make Brutal Assault one of the most unique and popular European summer metal festivals year after year. If you’ve never been to Brutal Assault before, check out the video below for a brief and partial walkaround of the festival’s grounds.
In the past, I would normally post reports of the bands that I saw day by day and also my overall opinion of that year’s festival. To be honest, I think writing long-winded reports is now considered outdated in terms of Road Reports and more of you would prefer to read the bullet points and watch some videos to get the gist of the festival being reported on. Without further ado, here’s the skinny on this year’s Brutal Assault.
I was able to catch the majority of this year’s headliner acts to include Macabre (warm-up day), Kerry King, Rotting Christ, Gojira, Blood Fire Death, Fear Factory, Mayhem, Dimmu Borgir, Cult of Luna, Opeth and The Halo Effect. With all the aforementioned bands worthy of headliner status, one band stood out above the rest, and it wasn’t even close. That band was Gojira.
Even before Gojira was awarded Olympic gold medal status among heavy music fans around the world, they had already proven that they were one of the world’s top metal acts long before last year's Summer Olympics performance. Fast forward to Gojira’s set at this year’s Brutal Assault set and I think just about everyone that witnessed it would say that it was a jaw dropping and heart stopping performance.
I’ve seen Gojira plenty of times and they’ve always been excellent, but this time it was just on a different level. They only way I can describe it was that they were perfect. Their sound, the musicianship, their stage show and the energy flowing back and forth between crowd and band was amazing. If you don’t believe me, just go on YouTube and watch for yourself. I was able to record one song and even though it’s farther back from the stage, you can get the gist of it.
OpEd
Brutal Assault Is Almost Here!!! Are You Going?
Here are some quotes from past attendees on YouTube:
"You go to Brutal once, you will fall in love instantly!" - @gybarni
"This is the best festival in the whole world! Can't wait for next year! <3" - @eveningwhispers13
"Best festival ever :D See you in BA 28!" - @AnsiSysX86
And the quotes go on and on...need more convincing? Watch the 2024 aftermovie below. More...
OpEd
Brutal Assault Announced The Daily Running Order!
Brutal Assault just announced their daily running order for this year’s festival recently and it’s officially time to get excited! What’s there to get excited about? Plenty…The sheer number of bands is mind-boggling, but not overwhelming. Most of the more well-known bands play at the main stages which are situated next to each other. You can literally bounce back and forth between these stages exclusively at time and guess what! There’s food and beverage stands (including adult beverages) just meters behind you so it’s super convenient to refresh and refuel without missing too much of what’s happening on stage.
Brutal Assault Daily Running Order
What bands am I most forward to seeing during this edition of Brutal Assault? Well, in no particular order, here’s a short list: Macabre, Warbringer, Static-X, Ministry, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, Orange Goblin, Gutalax, Gojira, Zeke, Asphyx, Monolord, Gaerea, Tsjuder, Crypta, and Arthur Brown. This is just a sampling. There's so much variety in the line-up. There's something for everyone! I’ll probably destroy myself trying to get to everyone on my list, but there’s nothing that some sleep won’t cure.
The other thing I love about this festival is just walking around and looking at all the exhibits, merch tents, food stands, beer tents and all the band shirts that everyone is wearing. There’s so much to see and do other than watching bands. For some examples, there’s the Lemmy Shrine to pay tribute to, there’s pool tables, there’s a movie room and there’s a pseudo disco of sorts for EDM, there’s art exhibits. I can go on and on…
Even outside of the festival grounds, in the town that Brutal Assault takes place, Jaromer, turns into a pre and post festival party garden. There are some bars and cafes to mingle in addition to pop up beer booths and food stands that are usually cheaper than inside the festival grounds. Even the walk towards the festival entrance is a site to see! There are literally tents lining the sides of the road and there’s always shenanigans taking place in this makeshift tent city.
For those that are going this year, are you getting excited??? I am for sure! I believe that there are very few whole-festival tickets remaining, so if you’re planning on making the trip to the Czech Republic, you better jump on it now!
Brutal Assault will take place in the Czech Republic at the Josefov Fortress during August 6-9, 2025.
Festival passes are available HERE!
Brutal Assault Announces First Bands For 2025
Last year's Brutal Assault line-up was one for the ages. The festival organizers have their work cut out for them but they are already off to a good start with Asphyx, Grave and Kataklysm (Special Set).
Brutal Assault will take place in the Czech Republic at the Josefov Fortress during August 6-9, 2025.
Festival passes are available HERE! More...
Report
The Final Day Of Mystic 2024, Satyricon Was KING
Sadly, the final day of the 25th edition of Mystic Festival had arrived. It was to be the busiest day of the festival but we were rested and ready to take on whatever the day may bring. Earlier, the day featured many “Core” and screamo type bands but the late afternoon and evening schedule would consist of mostly of Black, Doom and Death Metal.
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There’s always plenty of seating at Mystic Festival
I was talked into checking out Lord of the Lost by a fellow photographer friend a few weeks ago. I didn’t really know much about them and I didn’t bother to preview them before the festival like I normally do. When I arrived at the photo pit area, it sounded like a Ghost concert was getting ready to begin with all the mostly teen-aged crowd screaming at the top of their lungs. Well, I can say that are definitely not my cup of tea. I was impressed with their stage look and energy level, but they were a shoot my three obligatory songs and on to the next stage sort of band for me.
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Chris "The Lord" Harms of Lord of the Lost
Next up was Greece’s 1000mods. They are unequivocally the Kyuss of Greece and perhaps all of Europe. There was a lot of excitement brewing around the Desert Stage when I arrived. How could I tell? I lost count of how many times I heard the word “Malaka” being shouted while waiting for them to take to the sun-drenched stage. The band was prepared on this bright and sunny day, sporting sunglasses when began their set with “Electric Carve.” This was my 2nd time seeing them and their formula is a simple one. Keep it simple and keep it grooving. It’s a simple yet effective formula, but it works for them. Maybe that’s why they’ve been a Stoner Metal fan favorite at every show they play since their formation in 2006.
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1000mods
When Kerry King released his first solo band album earlier this year, there were a lot of mixed reviews about it. The most prevalent opinion that I read was that it sounded like leftover Slayer material that never made it onto their last recorded album. I felt that was a fair assessment. I only listened to about half of the album and what I heard wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t exciting either. The question now was, how would it his solo material translate to a live performance?
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Kerry King
Overall, I was impressed with the set. Kerry King has a star laden backing band so that helped. Mark Osegueda’s vocal stylings for this band definitely have a Tom Araya-ish tone to them and personally, I like that. There was plenty of Slayer like pyrotechnics happening throughout the set and of course there were not one…not two…but THREE Slayer songs included in the setlist! I can’t tell you how impressed I was that they played “Black Magic.” I guess subconsciously, I really do miss Slayer. I’ll bet at some point they’ll reform and play a few special, one-off shows. I can almost guarantee it.
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Phil Demmel and Mark Osegueda
Dark Funeral was next on the Park Stage. It was already late afternoon so a Black Metal band wearing corpse paint in daylight hours outdoors just appears a little strange visually. Dark Funeral has always been a little dramatic live so it wasn’t too much of a surprise that vocalist Heljarmadr was playing the part of Nosferatu throughout the band’s intro music. Dark Funeral are very good live, but they are known to use a lot of pyro. Today, there was none of that but they were still one of the better bands that I saw for the entire day.
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Heljarmadr of Dark Funeral More...
Column
What's So Great About Mystic Festival? Read This.
1. Certain bands that hardly come stateside but are easier to see if you’re in Europe. The bands I’m specifically referring to for this article are Gutalax, Asphyx, Furia, Satyricon and Blasphemy. Gutalax are actually going to be playing a couple of dates in the U.S. come September, but I didn’t want to wait that long to see them live for the first time. Asphyx, well…it was 2017 when they were stateside and Furia, I bet never. Satyricon has played some scattered dates here and there but are definitely more active in Europe. Mystic Festival has all of them this summer!
2. The cooler temperatures! This is my third Mystic Festival in a row and because it kicks off the metal festival season in early June, you can still comfortably wear a jacket at night. In fact, in 2022, the temperatures at the end of the first night of the festival were in the 40’s Fahrenheit. The Polish attendees are used to these types of temperatures but for someone that splits their time between Phoenix, Arizona and Athens, Greece, that’s called winter! The days, however, are beautiful. No complaints there.
3. The festival foods. It’s Poland, but this festival offers more than just pierogi and kielbasa. In fact, they are both more difficult to find at Mystic Festival than everything else available. There’s really good pizzas, hamburgers, some Mexican, Portuguese (!!!), lángos (think frybread with sour cream) and plenty of vegan and vegetarian options. The prices are fair for festival food but the lines can be long at times. There’s an actual indoor food court with plenty of seating if you need to get away for a bit. More...
Mystic Festival Announces 1st Wave Of Bands
Satyricon, the icon of Norwegian black metal, Thy Art Is Murder, who seek a new face of brutality, Lord Of The Lost, blending glam and gothic, death metal institution Asphyx and riff masters Orange Goblin - these are the first artists confirmed for Mystic Festival 2024.
Mystic Festival 2024 will be held at the Gdansk Shipyard from June 5-8. For more information and tickets go
HERE! More...
Exclusive
Monument of Misanthropy Premiere New Music Video
European technical brutal death institution Monument Of Misanthropy have teamed up with Metalundergound.com to bring their “Serial Roadkill 2022 Pt. II” touring cycle to mainland Europe this fall. The group have just officially announced some shows with Italian death metal upstarts Bloodtruth and Czech death metal veterans Cutterred Flesh as support on some of the dates. Several local support acts will be opening the shows.
Coming along with the announcement of the tour is a new animated music video for Monument Of Misanthropy's single "Midnight" taken from the band's latest album "Unterweger", which chronicling the story of Austrian serial killer Jack Unterweger. Check out now "Midnight" streaming via YouTube and Spotify for you below.
The bands' touring plans in that regard run as follows: More...
Asphyx and Incantation Added To Mexico Metal Fest
Better late than never, death metal legends Asphyx and Incantation were added to Mexico Metal Fest's 2022 roster of killer bands. More...
Asphyx Posts New Music Video Online
The legendary Dutch Death doom elite Asphyx will soon be releasing their much anticipated new, 10th full studio album "Necroceros" worldwide on January 22nd, 2021.
Asphyx are now launching a new single for the album with the song "The Nameless Elite" today, which can also be seen in a video created by Maurice Swinkels / Younique Film (Legion Of The Damned, Exodus, Kataklysm, etc.) below.
Asphyx frontman Martin van Drunen checked in about the song and clip as follows:
"This third single of our forthcoming ‘Necroceros’ album is entitled “The Nameless Elite” and is about modern-day warfare, especially about the brave men and women in the many international elite units that combat any form of terror to protect us all against violent acts of insanity.
"We thought the location at the Overloon War Museum was a fantastic one to shoot a video for any kind of song dealing about war and the Sherman tank in the clip actually did serve during WWII on the battlefields in that area. It may not be directly related to the content of the track, but Asphyx is a band that has always and will always take on any subject concerning war, without glorifying it. War is Hell.
"We would very much like to thank the wonderful cooperative people of the Overloon War Museum in The Netherlands for giving us permission to shoot there, causing pleasant chaos with our noise and smoke!" More...
Asphyx Premiere New Song & Lyric Video
Dutch death doom outfit Asphyx premiere their new official lyric video for the second advance track titled "Knights Templar Stand". The track is taken from the band's 10th studio album, "Necroceros", on January 22, 2021 via Century Media Records. The clip was helmed by Maurice Swinkels of Younique Film and can be streamed via YouTube below.
Asphyx Posts New Music Video Online
Legendary Dutch death doom elite, Asphyx, recently announced their new, 10th full studio album, "Necroceros," for worldwide release on January 22 via Century Media Records.
Today, Asphyx reveal the album’s first single, "Botox Implosion," which you can check out in a video filmed by Maurice Swinkels / Younique Film (Legion Of the Damned, Exodus, Kataklysm, etc.).
Asphyx frontman Martin van Drunen checked in about the song and its video: "We actually wanted to film this on Sunset Boulevard LA, where most of the pathetic subjects of this song have their residence, but due to the pandemic it was best not to fly over to the USA. So since it's a fast shredding and written in the typical humorous death metal gore tradition track, we put a few laughable elements in it. Fortunately good old Turock in Essen was so friendly to let us film there and where we're usually not that keen on shooting videos, with this one we had quite some fun. Still, it is a helluva brutal tune!" More...
Asphyx To Release New Album In January
The legendary Dutch death doom elite, Asphyx, finally return with their new, 10th full studio album release. Entitled "Necroceros," the new longplayer was recorded at Tom Meier’s Tom Meier Studio and at Paul Baayens’ The Mörserstudio and then finally mixed and mastered by Sebastian “Seeb” Levermann at Greenman Studios.
"Necroceros," which once again features front cover artwork by Axel Hermann, will be available worldwide on January 22 via Century Media Records.
Asphyx frontman Martin van Drunen comments about Necroceros as follows: “The first recordings for Necroceros started somewhere in November 2019. Mainly just rough ideas. We hired Tom’s studio for a couple of jam-sessions so we could record as soon as we thought something had potential. We finished about 6/7 songs, but after a few listenings we decided there had still quite some work to be done.
"After the 3 previous albums and this one being Asphyx’s 10th official full studio record we were very well aware that the standard had to be incredibly high. Our advantage was that for the first time we had a steady line-up. Since “Incoming Death” we were damned good “worked in” together, one “felt” what the other wanted or where he was music-wise going. With Paul having tons of riffs on the shelves, the earlier takes and the unexpected rapidly spreading Covid-19 outbreak and thus all our gigs being canceled one after the other, we booked Tom once more for a bunch of jam-recordings. Which turned out marvellously...
"It took 2 weekends to finally arrange all songs and tape the drum-tracks. Going completely berserk while playing and being totally satisfied with the variety, rawness, brutality and dynamics of each particular track, we were 100% certain that we were heading in the right direction. More...
Watch New Sodom Lineup Perform "Outbreak of Evil"
The new lineup of German thrash metal outfit SODOM made its live debut on May 18 at the "Rock Hard Festival" in Gelsenkirchen, Germany. Pro-shot footage of the band playing "Outbreak of Evil" can be streamed below.
More...
Asphyx Announces 30th Anniversary Shows
Amidst an ongoing campaign for latest album release “Incoming death," Dutch death / doom division Asphyx is proud to announce a very special anniversary celebration of the band’s 30 years of existence in 2017.
In addition to the previously announced and sold out anniversary show at the Turock venue in Essen, Germany on Saturday, November 18th, Asphyx has now announced a second (matinee) show in the same location for the day after, Sunday, November 19th.
These two 30 year anniversary concerts will not only be supported by metal comrades Pentacle and Soulburn, but also feature longer Asphyx sets, special merchandise, and meet & greet opportunities with former band members like Eric Daniels, Bob Bagchus, Wannes Gubbels, Ronnie van der Wey, Roel Sanders or Sander van Hoof.
Asphyx comments: "Salutations Asphyxians! Due to the unexpected, rapid sell out of our 30 years anniversary show in Turock, Essen, Germany on November 18th, for which our massive gratitude, we decided for those who could not obtain a ticket, to do an extra show the very next day. So, Sunday the 19th of November 2017. Same bill, same set, same goodies, same price. Just a little earlier, doors open at 15.00 hours, so everybody can get back to work on time the next day. Cheerz and see you all in November!" More...
Asphyx Gearing Up For U.S. Shows
We're just a couple of weeks away from Dutch doom / death metal pioneers Asphyx returning to North American shores for a string of West Coast dates. These shows are in support of "Incoming Death," the latest studio album by Asphyx that is available worldwide via Century Media Records.
4/25/2017 - Brick by Brick - San Diego, CA (US)
4/26/2017 - The Echo - Los Angeles, CA (US)
4/27/2018 - Metro Operahouse - Oakland, CA (US)
4/28/2017 - The Raven - Portland, OR (US)
4/29/2017 - Highline - Seattle, WA (US)
4/30/2017 - Rickshaw Theatre - Vancouver, BC (CA) More...
Vienna Metal Meeting Announced
Vienna – the capital city of Austria – already has numerous festivals for every style in music: rock, indie, classic, and even hip-hop. But one style was truly missing. Finally Vienna gets what it deserves with an extreme metal festival: the Vienna Metal Meeting.
On Saturday April 8th, 2017 the Arena Wien will get loud, very loud, focusing on thrash / death / black metal across two stages, with 17 international and national bands. Eindhoven Metal Meeting's little brother is born! More...
Asphyx Releases "Candiru" Video
Dutch doom / death metal division Asphyx continues to promote latest album, "Incoming Death," which was released at the end of September via Century Media Records and nominated as one of our best metal albums of the year.
Asphyx is now launching a new music video for the album's merciless opening track "Candiru." The clip was shot during a recent appearance at Turock Open Air festival in Essen, Germany and was edited by Maurice Swinkels / Younique Film, who most recently worked with Asphyx on the "Forerunners Of The Apocalypse" clip.
Vocalist Martin van Drunen comments: "'Candiru' is a no-nonsense, non-compromising 3 riff containing fast Asphyx death metal track. A gory story about a revolting little fish from the Amazon that can nest itself in human genitals to suck blood after it got there via the urine stream. Only removable through amputation, so be careful there were you relieve yourselves folks! The video was recorded at this year's Turock Open Air in Essen Germany, which we can almost call our second home. The very first time we ever rammed that tune on stage. We had a ball, as always, so hope you do too while watching this." More...
Headline News
Reader Poll: Vote Your Best Metal Album
Update: the staff awards are now here! Check 'em out and see who won at this location.
Our year-end awards for 2016 are nearly here as the staff just wrapped up our internal voting on the best album, performance, DVD, and metal newcomer of the year, along with a vote on our most anticipated album coming in 2017.
While awaiting our official awards ceremony later this week, we want to know: what was YOUR favorite metal album that came out this year? Cast your vote below!
In the poll we've listed out every single album that was nominated by our staff this year, but if you thought some other album should be #1 instead that's perfectly fine - just hit "Other" and type in your nominee.
Wondering why we have so many nominees? Each of our staff members nominates five albums, and we reach our winner by consensus of the album that gets the most votes, resulting in a well-rounded winner who was appreciated by a larger group of metal heads rather than just by people who prefer one sub-genre.
Since you can see who we nominated, we'd also like to know: who do you think was our ultimate winner in all the nominees? More...
Asphyx Album Hits The Charts
"Incoming Death," the new studio album by Dutch doom / death metal division Asphyx, is now available worldwide via Century Media Records and entered the official sales charts in various countries as follows:
Germany: #30
Switzerland: # 67
Belgium (Wallonia): # 78
This result marks the band's highest chart entries in Asphyx history. Congratulations! After a run of successful release shows, Asphyx is currently finalizing a video clip for the new album's opening track "Candiru." Stay tuned for the premiere in the coming weeks.
The history of Asphyx was also recently extensively covered in our Sunday Old School column here. More...