For more than 20 years, vocalist/guitarist Michael Poulsen has been spearheading Danish rock and roll machine Volbeat, releasing eight full-lengths, selling millions of albums, and filling stadiums worldwide. Before fronting Volbeat, however, Poulsen formed death metal band Dominus, which recorded four fast, brutal albums in the mid ’90s. When Poulsen was putting together songs for Volbeat‘s 2021 album, Servant Of The Mind, he wrote a bunch of death metal riffs and saved them on his phone. Then, when he was done with the Volbeat record, he reopened the rusty gates to Armageddon and started putting together songs for his new death metal band Asinhell, whose debut album Impii Hora (Latin for Ungodly Hour), is a tribute to Poulsen‘s favourite old-school groups.
Impii Hora is out today via Metal Blade. Order it here. To celebrate, today the band have shared the official video for new track “Wolfpack Laws“. Watch it here.
Marc’s great friend Dr. Frank Albers used his vast psychological genius to help come up with the brutal lyrics to the latest single “Wolfpack Laws”. Here’s what Frank had to say about the track, “It is a song about wolves taking over a land / the world and bring mankind down. They overrun the country and kill all men. The wolf pack rules with its own law, which is in essence the survival of the fittest. This song can be seen as a dark metaphor on things happening in the real world. However, it can also be plainly enjoyed as a gruesome story.”
“Let’s set one thing straight: Impii Hora is 40 minutes of Swedish death metal that absolutely bangs from start to finish…. ASINHELL have given us one of 2023’s funnest death metal albums.” Distorted Sound
“If there was any doubt that this album would not deliver then such thoughts are washed away with ease. Poulsen and his bandmates have taken a genre and been true to it, keeping the keystones which makes the genre beloved while adding their unique mark to it. This is a must have for any death metal fan, no matter what era you prefer!” The Razors Edge
“The result is as slick and measured as expected, considering the years of wellfunded exactitude that has coloured the majority of Michael and Morten’s professional lives. But that doesn’t mean Impii Hora – Latin for ‘Ungodly Hour’ – isn’t dripping with bangers.” Metal Hammer
“Impii Hora delivers an old school experience completely grounded in what the future of death metal should be… Best death metal album of 2023“ Pedro of A&P Reacts (watch review here)
“Impii Hora is a straightforward, balls-out extreme metal record, with deep roots in the old school and a brutish, ultra-modern sound. Vocalist Marc Grewe (INSIDIOUS DISEASE / ex-MORGOTH) is the perfect foil for Poulsen’s serrated-edge riffs and succinct songwriting: he barks and growls with utmost clarity, while also sounding hell-bent on battering anything and everything within flailing distance.” Blabbermouth.net
“The band’s Impii Hora debut drips with all of the classic 1990s death metal touchstones like chainsaw riffage, savage Grewe vocals and straightforward song structures derived from one of Poulsen’s primary influences, DEATH’s Chuck Schuldiner.” Blabbermouth.net interview
