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Dutch doom-death metal legends ASPHYX have now finished work on their 8th studio album, programmatically entitled Deathhammer. Set to be released on February 27th, 2012 in Europe and February 28th, 2012 in North America via Century Media Records, Deathhammer features artwork by the band’s long-time partner in designs, Axel Hermann (http://www.axel-illustrator.de). Hermann has not only worked on all of the early ASPHYX artwork (and most recently on their Live Death Doom release), but is also responsible for a lot of the classic Century Media artwork by bands like MORGOTH, UNLEASHED, SAMAEL, or GRAVE. In regards to their newfound collaboration, both parties comment:

“ASPHYX and Axel Hermann is a fusion that has always functioned perfectly…from the days of ‘The Rack’ back in 1991, ’til ‘Deathhammer’ in 2012. Like others such as Dan Swanö, Axel may be considered as an external member of the band and when we asked him to do the ‘Deathhammer’ cover–and as usual we would leave him free in his expression–we were very pleased to hear he was willing to take it on.

…And the man has exceeded himself! To the perfect death metal album comes the perfect cover that still leaves enough to everyone’s imagination. We hope he is as proud as we are on the final result. It seems all falls into place for this deathdozer of an album. I guess Axel can expect an offer from Le Louvre any time now.” – Martin van Drunen, ASPHYX

“A cover is the visual extension of an album that translates music and emotional intentions (or should I say aggression) into a clear statement of what to expect before taking the record off the shelf. In seldom cases you’re ending up with two perfect sides of the same coin. With ASPHYX and myself it has always and luckily been that case. And I am really proud of that! Show ’em Death and hit them with a hammer…visually and musically! Guess, we flipped the coin once more!?” – Axel Hermann

Recorded at The Mörser Studio as well as at Harrow Studio with their long-time engineer Harry Wijering, Deathhammer was mixed and mastered in Sweden by Dan Swanö, who previously worked with the band on Death…The Brutal Way as well as on the Live Death Doom release.

Prior to Deathhammer‘s release, ASPHYX will perform a very special concert at this year’s Eindhoven Metal Meeting on December 16th, at the Effenaar club in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, where the band will be playing The Rack album in its entirety for the 20th anniversary of its release. Additionally, ASPHYX have already been confirmed for the 2012 editions of the ExtremeFest, July 5th to 7th in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, as well as the upcoming edition of the legendary Obscene Extreme festival in Czech Republic on July 14th. See below for all of the band’s confirmed shows:

ASPHYX live:
12/16/11 — Eindhoven Metal Meeting — Eindhoven (The Netherlands) **special 20th anniversary show of The Rack**
7/5-7/12 — ExtremeFest Deutschland — Hünxe (Germany)
7/5-7/12 — ExtremeFest Österreich — Salzburg (Austria)
7/5-7/12 — ExtremeFest Schweiz — TBA (Switzerland)
7/14/12 — Obscene Extreme Festival — Trutnov (Czech Republic)