Mutilating Process

Here we have the last Asphyx release featuring original guitarist Tonny Brookhuis (who played earlier on the Carnage Remains, Enter the Domain and Crush the Cenotaph demos) and vocalist Theo Loomans (until the 1990 album 'Embrace the Death' was released in 1996 that is)

Only two songs are here, 'Mutilating Process' and 'Streams of Ancient Wisdom'. Now 'Streams of Ancient Wisdom' would eventually be re-recorded for their 'Last One on Earth' album but 'Mutilating Process' can only be found on this EP.

'Mutilating Process' has a great doomy opening. Some nice but simple melodies accompany it. However after 2,5 minute the song speeds up for a short minute before having a midpaced thrashing part (including a guitarsolo) and then a small fast part at the end again. All in all it is a great song. The band go through all paces they were known for yet the song structure remains solid, understandable and even catchy. One of the best songs from the early days.

The version of 'Streams of Ancient Wisdom' presented here is actually much better than the later studio album version. The lead guitar here is creepier and Loomans' vocals suit this song much better. He had a much lower pitched voice than van Drunen and I find that more suiting for this specific song. Also the demoproduction with muffled crunchy guitars and especially neanderthal-sound of the drumkit suit this song so much better.

So yeah, if you like Asphyx and especially the 'Embrace the Death' LP and 'Crush The Cenotaph' demo, this EP is also a must-have!

Asphyx first incarnation naturally features a raw production, its a 1989 death metal demo. Van Drunen’s vocals are full of reverb -as the rest of the instruments- and sound as dismal as they get; this effect was used by sound engineers back then to mix because they didn’t know any other way to blend high intensity music like this. Guitars’ overdrive has so much gain it loses heaviness and body but it’s still legible, leads can be heard clearly over rhythms; the record process left some ground connection noises that gives the strings’ sound a low-fi edge which kind of fits the music.

Bass guitar is almost non existent, low end is saturated and it doesn’t cut through the mix but when heard it gives the riffs a “surround” feel. It’s buried under the drums in fast parts and disappears in solo sections. Percussion got the bigger piece of cake in the mix, drums let you hear the strings but are so loud they drift apart from them, sounding a little lost. Cymbals, however, were recorded properly as the crash and splash can be heard clearly and sharp without any weird noises. I’m not into that ride cymbal though, it lets ring a metallic note at the end (like hitting a can) I dislike.

Composition wise, this couple of tracks are made of the band’s traditional doom metal’s slow paced and gloomy sections and death metal’s contusive aggressiveness and guttural vocals; resulting in one of the heaviest brands of extreme metal. It doesn’t get fast usually but when it does it kills and palm muted doom sections paint horrific landscapes for the listener as he descends... Very atmospheric.

Despite its obvious flaws this record draws my attention because it gets over the limited resources the band had at hand at the moment, delivering a decent effort and worthy catch at least for their hardcore fans. Streams of Ancient Wisdom was re-recorded later and still is one of the band’s live songs and Mutilating process has its moments too, the solo section at the beginning is enthralling. Asphyx just had that secret ingredient “X” that make them stand over the rest since the start and this 7” is the proof.

They might have been a few years later than fellows Pestilence, who had already released two of the greatest extreme metal albums of their (or any) day, in reaching the international awareness of the underground. Yet the formative years of Asphyx certainly offered a crushing, viable alternative to their more clinical countrymen, and with the Mutilating Process single, they carved out their stylistic manifesto at a median between the death metal of antiquity and a prevalent doom influence tracing itself back to Sabbath. The two tracks here are not exactly complex enterprises, but they show an inherent penchant for plodding, dark rhythms laden in the melodic lamentations we were hearing from the UK scene (Paradise Lost, My Dying Bride, etc.)

What I find most fascinating about this brief rarity is just how much the vocals foreshadow the transference of Martin van Drunen just a short year later. Asphyx were already on their third growler here, having had others during their '88-89 demo years, but Theo Loomans possessed a nearly identical, ghastly torn throat approach which is damned near consistent with The Rack. I do find that the actual placement of the lyrics here is a bit scarce, and the Dutchmen rely too much on instrumental passages, which gives the (shy of 9 minutes) material a rather skewed perspective, but where he appears, it sounds hoarse and flush with the chugging, low end guitars and molasses pacing that accompany him. That said, the first of these tracks, the "Mutilating Process" itself is admittedly pretty predictable and weak, with a simple elevation of chords that merges into a mid-paced churning at the bridge.

"Streams of Ancient Wisdom" is more interesting by default, due to the numerous, saddening melodic passages strewn about the first few minutes, but the actual heavy riffs also seem to suffer from a pretty slack note selection and are not nearly so effective as the melancholic teasing might have imparted. As a result, I find the single pretty sodden on the whole, a mere primate precursor to the far better albums to follow, but at least it helps lay a foundation. I should also note that both of these tracks have been released numerous times again in the band's careers. The rough mixes for the 7" were tossed onto the end of Embrace the Death (1996), the title track has been on compilations, and "Streams..." was re-recorded for the sophomore Last One on Earth (1992) in what in my estimate is a far stronger recurrence. Thus, while this single is a great collectors' item, with excellent cover art, the musical content itself is not so important or memorable.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

Unfortunately my copy of this Mutilating Process is just another bootleg, one of maybe several ones…anyway; when I found it I was quite happy because I could listen to a valid band in its finest hour. The rack was a good debut album and this single was already very heavy and death metal style. The main influences that we can find are mostly from the American death metal groups for the morbid atmosphere and the primitive sound.

The title track features a long march at the beginning with grotesque, rancid lead guitars lines. The atmosphere is the one of pure physical decadence, morbidity and gore. The sudden restart is by the middle with up tempo and sick semi growls. The production is extremely rotten but quite clean for the sound, but the main sickness is from the grindcore style guitars and the pounding bass drum.

There are some guitars solos too but are just short breaks between the devastations. “Stream Of Ancient Wisdom” is really obscure by the beginning with a good mix of lead guitars lines to flow in a mid paced, horrific (for the atmosphere) tempo. The vocals are sick and perverted and fit into this sound perfectly. As the title track, the tempo is really slow and morbid with more solos ala Obituary to fill the air with stench of rotting corpses.

Some up tempo parts at the end can’t change the twisted atmosphere of a good single. The influences are well clear but the level of obscurity and sickness of these songs it’s hard to match.