ASPHYX Frontman Has High Hopes For Next Studio Album

Jägermeister conducted an interview with vocalist Martin Van Drunen of Dutch doom/death metal veterans ASPHYX on November 7 at the Damnation festival in Leeds, England. You can now watch the chat below. A couple of excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On ASPHYX's plans to record the follow-up to 2012's "Deathhammer" album:

"When it comes to songs, we've got, like, seven new songs ready. I have to finish the lyrics on them. And we've got tons of riffs that we can arrange. So I'm quite sure that we'll have [a new album out in 2016], for sure. And, yeah, from there on, we'll see again what's going on. 'Cause, yeah, you know, 'Deathhammer' was a really well-received album — we're really happy with it — so it won't be easy to top that, but from what we are doing now, I think it's gonna be pretty good. And, you know, we are a band that if we like the shit that we do, usually the fans do too."

On what inspired him to become a professional musician:

"I got really triggered by electric guitar chords as a really little boy — three years old — when I heard 'Satisfaction' by THE [ROLLING] STONES on the radio; my sister was listening to that. And then later, of course, I got completely… I was berserk about KISS. But I was really into Ace Frehley's guitar work. And, yeah, I was actually miming the guy in front of the mirror in my room. So, yeah, I had this kind of dream as a little boy, 'I wanna do that.' But, you know, it was kind of a fantasy until that moment came when I was in PESTILENCE And, yeah, we did a few good albums and we did lots of touring, and that's when you all of a sudden start thinking, 'Maybe there is a possibility that I can make a living out of it.' And, yeah, I'm the only one now of all the boys in the band that does it. It's not making me rich or something, but, you know, I'm free and I'm a happy man. So in the end… But it was all really… It was never planned. You cannot plan to become a professional musician. There's a lot of musicians who go to high schools and learn instruments like violin or whatever, [and] they don't even make it. It's really a tough world. And this business is even worse."

ASPHYX recently completed a South American tour, the band's first run of dates on the continent in more than twenty years.

"Deathhammer" entered the German Media Control chart at position No. 67. The CD was released in February 2012 via Century Media Records.

Recorded at The Mörser Studio as well as at Harrow Studio with ASPHYX's longtime engineer Harry Wijering, "Deathhammer" was mixed and mastered in Sweden by Dan Swanö, who previously worked with the band on "Death…The Brutal Way" and "Live Death Doom" releases.