ASPHYX - The Rack CD

In retrospect, The Rack is clearly one of the best death metal records of 1991, though also, quite clearly an anomaly. At the time, an emphasis on speed, skill, and precision was highly favored, qualities of which The Rack has little in common with. Emphasizing atmosphere and deliberation, however, has done the album many favors. There is timeless quality to The Rack that has it sounding fresh almost twenty years after my ears initially rejected it. It also sounds unique when held up against both its peers and contemporaries, few of whom sounded like Asphyx then or now. This is a record I will listen to forever.