Volbeat frontman Michael Poulsen has formed a new death metal band called Asinhell. The trio has announced its first album, titled Impii Hora, along with unveiling its first single, “Fall of the Loyal Warrior.”
While fans are most familiar with the metallic rockabilly vibe of Volbeat, Poulsen was actually dabbling in death metal long before he formed his successful rock band. Prior to Volbeat’s launch, the Danish musician fronted the death metal band Dominus, who released a string of albums and EPs during their decade-long run from 1991 to 2001.
Now, Poulsen has returned to his extreme roots with Asinhell. Instead of fronting the band himself, he recruited singer Marc Grewe (Insidious Disease, ex-Morgoth) to handle lead vocals. Drummer Morten Toft Hansen (from the Danish band Raunchy) rounds out the lineup.
“We’re very excited to share the first taste of Asinhell with ‘Fall of the Loyal Warrior,’” said Poulsen in a press release. “The song is kind of a tribute to bands I love, like Bolt Thrower, Entombed, Autopsy, Grave, and Darkthrone. They’re the reason why we can do this in the first place, and we’re proud to wear our influences on our sleeve.”
He continued, “The album was inspired by late ’80s and early ’90s old school death metal, and one of our brightest points of inspiration was the mighty Death, fronted by the legendary Chuck Schuldiner. There’s a lot of Death in there. Schuldiner is one of my favorite death metal vocalists, the other being our vocalist Marc. So to me, this song is the combination of two of my favorites. ‘Let the metal flow,’ as Chuck would have said!”
Asinhell inked a deal with Metal Blade Records for Impii Hora (Latin for “Ungodly Hour”), which arrives on September 29th, and is available for pre-order here.
Volbeat, meanwhile, will kick off a North American tour with Halestorm on July 12th in Toronto. Tickets are available here.
Check out the lyric video for Asinhell’s “Fall of the Loyal Warrior,” and see the artwork and tracklist for Impii Hora, below.
Impii Hora Artwork:
Impii Hora Tracklist:
01. Fall of the Loyal Warrior
02. Inner Sancticide
03. Island of Dead Men
04. Trophies
05. The Ultimate Sin
06. Wolfpack Laws
07. Desert of Doom
08. Pyromantic Scryer
09. Impii Hora
10. Foj for Helvede