Asphyx / Hooded Menace

Asphyx, the elder gods of old-school death & doom are found here splitting a seven-inch with Finnish upstarts Hooded Menace; and while Asphyx is a band I have long known and admired, Hooded Menace were an unknown quantity to me. Based on this track alone, I will be deeply investigating their discography because they easily hang with the legends here.

Starting with Asphyx: "We Doom You To Death" is mind boggling perfection with a crushingly heavy, unbelievably catchy main riff. You may need vertebral fusion surgery after hearing this. Paul Baayens has proven over and over again that he is the righteous successor to Eric Daniels with his punishing riffs and glorious lead playing. This track merely affirms it. Not to be undone, Martin Van Drunen escalates his game as well. MVD takes a back seat to no one and he just unleashes an infernal collection of rasping death vox. The rhythm section pummels appropriately in the background, accenting the dynamics and laying down an overall ass-whuppin' of heavy death metal perfection.

Hooded Menace don't blanch from these high stakes. With "Abode Of The Grotesque," they actually up the ante. Whereas Asphyx rides a heavily accented mid-tempo groove, Hooded Menace slows things way down, embellishing their abysmally sludgy riffage with melodic accents and much darker lyrical affrontry. While Asphyx trample the dead in the streets, Hooded Menace trudge through their blood as it flows down into the sewers. Their guitar riffs are bracingly catchy and far more antiquated, reaching back to the ancestral dawn of Sabbath as channeled through Autopsy. The lead playing is killer too, highlighting the riffs and adding an enshrouded pall of heightened tension and dismal atmosphere. Lasse Pyykkö's vocals serve this atmosphere, being tonally rich but rotten to the core with a benumbing attitude of deepest horror. Their music well betokens their name, warning of spectral magic and unremitting human sacrifice at the altars of the Outer Dark.

Honestly, I can't count the number of times I've flipped this seven-inch over and played it through. It is a perfect primer and introduction to both bands with killer material that highlights their strengths with clarity and fidelity. Even though "We Doom You To Death" later appeared on Asphyx's full-length (Deathhammer), I still play the hell out of their side because that song is just too compelling to ignore and both tracks seem to just compliment each other perfectly. It also helps that the Hooded Menace track is thus far unavailable elsewhere. Anyone with even the remotest interest in death-doom should hear this because the music available on it functions at an elite level light-years beyond most offerings in the genre. And as a self-contained musical experience, it rules hard. I haven't heard a more complimentary split seven-inch in years.

"We Doom You To Death:" 94%
"Abode Of The Grotesque:" 97%
Total: 95.5% (rounded up)