Anaestetic Sleep

Now this Dutch band is a real piece of work – I’d never expect it to be from this country. Come to think of it though, it has characteristics that would later be established by bands like Asphyx, particularly with the deafening guitar tone. But this was 1988! How many bands came in 1988 like this? Not a whole lot, and not a whole lot as developed sounding as these guys, either. Damn, a few more songs and this could have been a full-length way more sinister and crushing than Death’s Scream Bloody Gore, and that’s no joke.

Now these guys are death metal to the score – don’t let any thrash label fool you. The production is very grimy and muddy, with the guitar tone being a wet, thick tone that lurches forward with every note being next to last. So heavy, so fat, so juicy, although the leads can get pretty thin in comparison. Can’t exactly tell a lot of the riffs apart, either; bass reverb on this is high but not something that’ll blow your speakers. The guitars are so wet that the bass sticks to it on the underside like they’re buddies. The atmosphere brought about by these two is filled with nothing but death and decay – very sweet for 1988; Autopsy would perfect it a year later.

Vocals are the only connection with thrash metal that I hear. This guy will scream and howl like he’s in Slayer or something, which doesn’t go with the music at all. He’s also got goblin-like snarls and lathered-up vocals akin to Morbid Saint’s vocalist. Very threatening when he hits those, but other times it’s back to the typical shit that has no place in such chunky death metal as this. Drums I’m not too fond of either since the snares are hollow as hell and louder than everything else. All the other crunchy instruments lurk in some dark abyss but the drums are up close and humane, even though there’s hardly any drum bass to be heard.

So for such an early recording, it can get lonely listening to this. 1988 was an odd year for death metal; not much came out and the year would only be overwhelmed by 1989’s greatness. Nonetheless, don’t let this one fool you into thinking nothing is of value. You’ll likely revisit the classics, but this one is a pretty decent middle of the road outfit that came at a not so perfect time during the early years.