APOPHYS

Good bands die, and sometimes other good ones rise up from their ashes like a Phoenix. A case in point: I’ve been in mourning over the death last year of God Dethroned, but that great band’s members are moving on to other things, including drummer Michiel van der Plicht (also ex-Prostitute Disfigurement, ex-Detonation) who is now a member of the new Dutch band Apophys. I also experienced pangs of grief a few days ago when I learned that Mondvollond had also disbanded — and lo and behold, Mondvolland’s Mickeal Schuurman turns out to be the bass player for Apophys. Apophys also includes talented guitarists Sanne van Dijk and Koen Romeijn (Detonation) and vocalist Kevin Quilligan (Toxocara, Erebus).

I’ve been investigating Apophys since discovering them for the first time this weekend, and I’ve included in this post a selection of what I found. Eventually I’ll come to their music, but I’m beginning with a medical procedure.

The subject of this procedure was Apophys vocalist Kevin Quilligan. He paid a visit to phoniatrician Enrico Di Lorenzo (who also happens to be the frontman of Rome’s Hideous Divinity) for a vocal assessment. I had never heard of phoniatrics before, and if its a new field for you as well, you can learn a small amount about it here. This consultation was videotaped, and fortunately it turns out to be more interesting than film of a colonoscopy, although both procedures involve the insertion of tubes with cameras into fleshy orifices.

This is actually quite interesting and educational. There’s a long version and a short version of the video, both of which I’m presenting here, in that order. The main difference is that the long version shows the creation of the video imagery that Enrico then uses to provide his verbal assessment.  (bonus points to Kevin for the X-Men shirt)

 

 

 

Now, onward to the music.

Apophys have recorded four demo tracks that they posted on YouTube about a year ago. They’re also available for free download HERE. They provide abundant cause to get excited for the full-length album on which the band are currently working. The demo is a potent offering of blast-furnace death metal brutality delivered at a scorching pace, with eye-opening technical proficiency and a lot of songwriting flair (and great vocals, too). And holy shit, the back half of “The Sentient” is a massive headbang trigger.

Fantastic stuff! Prepare to be torched, and then flattened. (I’ve included both a YouTube stream of all the tracks together and a Soundcloud stream that allows you to select individual songs.)

 

 

 

And finally, I found the following drum play-through of a song named “The Red Planet”, which is a kickass thing to watch.

For more info about the band, their FB page can be reached via this link.