Asphyx - "God Cries", 1996

In 1995, original Asphyx drummer Bob Bagchus contacted his old bandmate Theo Loomans - who sang and played bass on the band's classic demos, the first 7", and the then-unreleased original debut album "Embrace the Death" - to see if he would like to join his doom/black metal project Throne on bass. The duo started jamming on some new songs, but soon enough they decided it would have made sense to resurrect Asphyx, since the short-lived 1994 line-up - consisting of Eric Daniels, Sander van Hoof, and Ron van Pol - dissolved immediately after releasing the self-titled 1994 album, and the band was pretty much done at the time. The duo actually asked Daniels to join them, but the guitarist decided to pass and to focus on another working career instead. Bagchus and Loomans went on to write material for a full-length, and after two weeks of intense rehearsals, they entered the studio and nailed the songs in just two days, with Loomans also taking care of all guitars besides bass and vocals; the record was titled "God Cries" and it received mixed reactions from fans and critics alike.

I remember this CD was a staple of the second-hand section in a record store in my city in 1996 or 1997; there weren't many metalheads in town, especially listening to death metal and the like, but I'm pretty sure at least 5 or 6 of them picked up the record and returned it to the shop shortly afterwards, so every two weeks you would browse through the titles there and you would find "God Cries" again. I was about to pick it up myself, but a friend who had listened to it told me not to bother, so I skipped it without giving it much thought; a few years later, I decided to finally give the album a chance and - to my surprise - it was a captivating listen. Note to self: don't trust other people's advice, especially when coming from fellow metalheads. In my experience, the metal crowd is a creature of habit and rarely cares for a band's need to evolve or for any of its potential stylistic shifts; people just want to hear the same stuff over and over again, especially from well-established bands. While it's understandable, at least to some extent, not all changes applied to a band's formula are necessarily always bad; some records are just different, maybe because band members were going through a weird time in their private lives while writing them or whatnot. That was in fact the case with Theo Loomans, facing some family troubles that apparently sent him spiraling into some sort of depression, as is evident from the lyrics of "God Cries": a mix of desperate frustration, as well as blind rage against people and religious beliefs, that are a grim foreshadowing of Loomans' impending doom. He will die in 1998 from what seems to be a suicide, struck by a train while his car was stuck on the rails, sadly joining Club 27. 

With these premises, one would expect "God Cries" to be a particularly gloomy or funereal album, but actually just a couple of songs truly embody the torment Loomans was going through; one is titled "My Beloved Enemy" and it sticks out for its mid-tempo pace and the large use of ringing open chords and sorrowful leads, giving it an eerie, discomforting feel that curiously predates some depressive black metal bands of the early 2000s, as well as some of the bleakest post-hardcore stuff. The deeply personal lyrics and pained vocal performance complement the pessimistic, melancholic atmosphere perfectly, sending shivers down the spine and leaving a bitter taste, in the aftermath of what happened to its author. It's truly a gem of a song, and it's a real pity that a lot of listeners don't seem to understand it or to appreciate it for what it is. "Frozen Soul" is probably the only other song that partially sounds in a similar vein; it's a mid-tempo blend of a massive riff - not unlike something out of Grave's "Soulless" - with more melodic open chords and poignant leads, showcasing a rather personal sound that would have deserved to be developed further by Loomans, be it with Asphyx or with another project. 

The rest of the album sounds pretty different, and it doesn't display that sort of vulnerability and melodic taste in the songwriting, focusing mainly on brutality and aggression instead and favoring a more familiar death/thrash approach that takes no prisoners. The material actually doesn't sound that much removed from the faster sections of other Asphyx records; even Loomans' vocals here are in a screaming style somehow more akin to his eternal rival van Drunen than the growling one he displayed on the band's early stuff, such as "Embrace the Death". The real big difference from the classic Asphyx style is the absence of its trademark doomy slowdowns, here swapped for groovier riffs like on "It Awaits" or on the über-heavy chorus of "Fear My Greed". In general, the album sounds pretty hectic, though, relying on an almost constant old-school skank beat (with the occasional, more punkish d-beat) that rarely lets up; "God Cries", "Died Yesterday", "The Blood I Spilled" or "Slaughtered in Sodom" (maybe a coincidence, but it really sounds like something out of a Sodom record) are an all-out massacre, although a few breaks and some mid-tempo riffs appear from time to time, or even some nice guitar solos such as on "Cut-Throat Urges" or on "Frozen Soul". 

The production is solid, with beefy guitars, powerful drums, and a rather well-balanced mix, while the somber artwork by the loyal Axel Hermann fits the package well, and it feels consistent with the band's visual legacy. 

"God Cries" is a record that clocks in at about 32 minutes and immediately calls for a replay; it certainly doesn't overstay its welcome, and it even manages to squeeze quite a bit of variety within its short running time. While "My Beloved Enemy" and "Frozen Soul" are obviously the highlights and the most diverse material on display, the other songs are a good example of old-school death metal resistance, in a time when the genre was going through some challenges. It could have been a transitional record if the band kept on evolving towards something else, but instead Asphyx called it quits once more shortly afterwards, since Loomans apparently lost interest in death metal to focus on some sort of post-punk project that obviously never came to be. Considering the more experimental material on "God Cries", it's not too shocking that his creativity was moving towards something else at that point, and it's sad that his life was cut short; if anything, it makes the album even more valuable, as it's the musical testament of an underrated artist that would have deserved much more credit for his contributions to the genre. 

Death metal purists, hardcore Asphyx fans, and van Drunen groupies might have dismissed it as an oddity to be quickly forgotten, but this doesn't change the fact that it's a very good album in its own right and that - despite a couple of more ambitious songs - it was as uncompromising and old-school as ever.