After leaving Pestilence in the early 1990s, Martin van Drunen joined Asphyx and the band signed to Century Media Records. After the release of their first album, The Rack, they went on a European tour with Entombed, followed by a tour with Bolt Thrower and Benediction in 1992. Shortly after the recording of the second album, Last One on Earth, van Drunen left the band, to be replaced by Ron van der Pol. Eventually Bagchus left the band as well and was replaced by Sander van Hoof.
In 1994, the band released its third, self-titled album, but broke up shortly afterward. In 1995, Loomans and Bagchus reformed Asphyx and recorded God Cries. Around the same time, the Embrace the Death album, recorded in 1990, was released. Nevertheless, the band split up again after the release. In 1998, Loomans died when a train hit his car. The circumstances suggest it was an act of suicide. Some time later, Soulburn was founded by Bagchus and Daniels and, together with Pentacle singer and bass guitarist Wannes Gubbels, they recorded Feeding on Angels. In 1999, they renamed the project Asphyx and recorded the On the Wings of Inferno album with the same line up. However, Asphyx disbanded again in 2000.
In January 2007, the band re-united with van Drunen, Gubbels, Paul Baayens and Bagchus. They did not intend to record a new album, but focused only on live performances. However, in January 2008, they recorded a cover of a Celtic Frost song and a new song called "Death...The Brutal Way". In July 2008, they announced that new material was being prepared. Death...The Brutal Way was released in June 2009 by Century Media. It was released in North America by Ibex Moon Records on 18 August 2009, quickly becoming the distributor's best seller.
On 30 November 2011 Asphyx finished recording on their eighth studio album entitled Deathhammer which was set to be released on 27 February 2012 in Europe and 28 February 2012 in North America via Century Media Records.
In March 2014, founding member Bob Bagchus parted ways from the band and leaving the band with no original members. He was replaced by Stefan Hüskens as the new drummer.
On 14 October 2015, Asphyx made an announcement they are working on a new album at the end of November for the long-awaited Deathhammer follow up and begin their first tour at Latin America. Their next two albums, Incoming Death and Necroceros, were released in 2016 and 2021, respectively.
Full Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asphyx
Studio albums
The Rack (1991)
Last One on Earth (1992)
Asphyx (1994)
God Cries (1996)
Embrace the Death (1996; recorded in 1990)
On the Wings of Inferno (2000)
Death...The Brutal Way (2009)
Deathhammer (2012)
Incoming Death (2016)
Necroceros (2021)
Evocation
Asphyx Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Eager to call, he who's guarding the gates
Feast of evoking, he who comes from the depth
Circle of Seance, in a trance of decay
Mass for abyss, so it will be done
Die! Only a soul, is worth his affection
Giving your life, his only need
And at the gate the Master is waiting
One out of all has the priviledge of approval
The rest remains dwelling through
the crypts of knowledge
Fighting the powers of forgiveness, remain
an evil black soul
Only a soul, is worth his affection
Giving your life that's all he needs
Circle of seance, not one soul will awake
Eager to call, mass for abyss
And at the gate the Master was waiting
Only one of all had priviledge of power
The rest is there to die a thousand deaths
The lyrics to Asphyx's song Evocation describe the summoning of a demonic entity through a ritualistic circle of seance. The song talks about the subconscious voice that calls out to the entity guarding the gates of the abyss, and how only one soul is worth the affection of the Master who resides there. The lyrics speak of offering one's own life to gain the demon's grace and how only a select few are privileged to receive the demon's power while the rest are left to die.
The song paints a picture of a dark and twisted cult-like activity, a ritualistic worship of evil forces. It speaks of the power of the subconscious and how it can draw individuals to partake in dark and malevolent acts. The lyrics go further to depict the desperation of those who seek to gain from these entities, willing to give away their lives in exchange for their desires.
Overall, Asphyx's Evocation serves as a stark reminder of the danger of delving too deep into the abyss of the unknown and the force of temptation that can lead us astray.
Line by Line Meaning
Deep in your mind in subconscious voice
A voice in your subconscious is summoning something.
Eager to call, he who's guarding the gates
The voice is eager to summon a guardian at the gates.
Feast of evoking, he who comes from the depth
The summoning is like a feast, calling forth someone from the depths.
Circle of Seance, in a trance of decay
The summoning is in a circle of ritual, in a trance-like state of decay.
Mass for abyss, so it will be done
The summoning is a mass for the abyss, and will be completed.
Die! Only a soul, is worth his affection
The entity being summoned only cares about the value of a soul, and demands sacrifice.
Giving your life, his only need
The entity only desires the sacrifice of a life.
And at the gate the Master is waiting
The entity being summoned is waiting at the gate.
Come, kneel and beg for his grace
The summoner should approach and beg for the entity's favor.
One out of all has the priviledge of approval
Only one person is favored by the entity, while others will not be approved.
The rest remains dwelling through the crypts of knowledge
The rest are left to dwell in the crypts of knowledge, learning but not favored.
Fighting the powers of forgiveness, remain an evil black soul
Those who are not approved by the entity are left to fight temptations and remain evil.
Circle of seance, not one soul will awake
The circle of ritual will not allow any souls to escape or avoid the summoning.
And at the gate the Master was waiting
The entity being summoned was waiting at the gate.
Only one of all had priviledge of power
Only one person was favored by the entity with power.
The rest is there to die a thousand deaths
All others not favored are left to die repeatedly.
Contributed by Noah C. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@FunerealObsession
The best song on the album. Solo section is spine-chilling.
@derGemuetliche
One of the best Death Metal tracks ever!
@NoFunNoMoshNoCoreNoTrends
So much bands try to copy this and fail blatantly.
Hail Asphyx
@Zeloten
Rly Nice, Keep Posting this Band
@MrThrash3d
Best death metal band ! TRUE death metal !
@peyxx
that solo...
@erikeras1
Antoine Vaillant \o/
@thehellion754
I think I'll have to give up my attempts at trying to figure out what the Hell is going on in that intro riff. I've lost track of the number of times I've replayed the song in order to understand what's going on in Daniel's hands there, but now I feel like all I can do is try and make my own similar-sounding version
@kwstassatswk3659
Fucking Sick!
@aris2939
BASS GUITAR!!!