text: Dawid Krosnia
Ekpyrosis
Asphyxiating Devotion
Memento Mori
January 23rd, 2017
I’ve been following death metal for almost two decades now. I’m a massive fan. I’ve heard a lot of bands in the past and it’s really hard to impress me. This genre of music evolved in many ways, sometimes for better, introducing new ideas and combining death metal with other genres to create new extreme and interesting solutions. Sometimes not so good like deathcore and slam death metal thing that I totally don’t get. Recently, the name Ekpyrosis came to my attention with their upcoming debut album – Asphyxiating Devotion. The name of the band and the album’s title sounded very promising so I decided to give them a chance. Best choice I’ve ever made!
Asphyxiating Devotion will be released in the second part of January by the Momento Mori. Ekpyrosis was formed three years ago in Italy and consists of four young individuals who have passion for playing very decent death metal. Just to point out one thing, the drummer is a female, let me tell you something, she is phenomenal! The amount of energy she puts into her blasts is simply astonishing!
The album begins with Profound Death – after the short intro, here comes the blast. I’m instantly engaged with this track, it’s amazing to see how the song is arranged. Tones of catchy riffs mixed with brutality and deadly good vocals. This is the longest offering on the record, over seven minutes of profound death. Deadllicious! Obsessive Christendom is next. Nice and slow beginning that turns into the real bloodbath. God Grotesque starts with groovy bass and drum intro and shortly after that, it explodes to the most brutal song on the record. Each song on Asphyxiating Devotion brings brutal uniqueness and twist on how the new modern death metal should sound like. The album was recorded, mixed and mastered by Carlo Altobelli at Toxic Basement Studio, Milan (Italy). Fuck, this guy is a genius. Total respect! Songs like Immolate the Denied, Morticians of God or the last offering from this album, Unearthly Blindness, will rip you to pieces.
Asphyxiating Devotion is executed with precision and dedication to the old school death metal scene. I’m already excited what else Ekpyrosis can produce and I’d love to hear these songs live someday. There is not a single bad moment on this record. Perfection, that’s all I’m going to say.
THE GOAT TAVERN 