Conflagration

Asphyxia’s 1990 demo Conflagration turned out to be a pleasant surprise. Following a few seconds of organ music the demo begins with a menacing riff and some decent solos. The riff sets the tone for a promising death/thrash demo that leans towards the death spectrum. The vocals make their debut in “The Craving.” The raspy death/thrash vocals are that of David “George” Thomas, and are reminiscent of old Kreator or Morbid Saint. O’Brien and Farrell do their part in providing a profound variety of riffs and solos.

“Conflagration” begins with a solo before a deadly riff bares its face. Equipped with violent sounding vocals, guitar work, and percussion, this track should’ve impressed the death/thrash fan base of the early nineties. Perhaps poor production, marketing and lack of an Irish scene hindered Asphyxia’s success and efforts to put forth a follow up. Regardless, the chorus has a nice melody, not too polished as to make it weak, but enough to give them an edge over any similar obscure death metal demo of the period. Symptoms of Suffering keeps up the barbaric pace and finishes the demo on a great note.

Overall, the demo avoids the monotony that resonated among many early nineties death metal bands. All three tracks adhere to a fast and rather gritty style giving it a satisfying consistency. Like any demo there are a few small cons, mainly being the sub par production.

If straightforward or even “brutal” death is your style then you may prefer Farrell and Thomas’ later band Morphosis. Perhaps the dwindling thrash scene caused them to adopt a more modern sound. Personally I think one would be better off pursuing Asphyxia’s Conflagration demo. It meets all the expectations of what a decent death/thrash demo should exhibit.