VOLBEAT's MICHAEL POULSEN Says DEATH's 'Spiritual Healing' Album Was A Turning Point For Death Metal Genre

In a new interview with Loaded Radio, VOLBEAT frontman Michael Poulsen, who recently released the debut album from his ASINHELL death metal side project, spoke about his love of the early recordings from the influential Florida band DEATH, in particular that group's third LP, 1990's "Spiritual Healing". He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "When I heard 'Spiritual Healing'… Of course, before that, I did hear [DEATH's debut album] 'Scream Bloody Gore' and [DEATH's second album] 'Leprosy', but something happened with 'Spiritual Healing'. You could suddenly hear the mighty talent of [DEATH mastermind] Chuck Schuldiner. You can hear the progress. It was like he took — not only did he take the death metal style to a certain level where you can... You know, there will always be that discussion: was it POSSESSED that started death metal or was it Chuck Schuldiner who started death metal? But I think to do it fair, I will say that POSSESSED planted the seed of death metal, but Chuck Schuldiner became the tree. So he kind of completed it somehow. And 'Scream Bloody Gore' was a great album. And the lyrics were more gory, and they're fun. And pretty much the same on 'Leprosy'. On 'Leprosy', you could actually start to hear that Chuck was getting into structure when it comes to how he was writing his songs. But on 'Spiritual Healing' suddenly there was more structure and the subject of his lyrics was just something you haven't heard about before in death metal. Suddenly it was relevant subjects, what was going on in American society, just what was going on in the world. And it makes you think, 'What the fuck is going on here?' And just the whole cover artwork. But I also think the songwriting was so solid. And I've also gotta give a lot of credit to [then-DEATH lead guitarist] James Murphy since he also wrote some material for that album and great solos. For me, that was just the essence of how I wanted death metal to sound like. When that record came out, it was like, 'Wow.'"

ASINHELL's debut album, "Impii Hora" (Latin for "Ungodly Hour"),arrived on September 29 via Metal Blade.

For more than 20 years, vocalist/guitarist Poulsen has been spearheading Danish rock and roll machine VOLBEAT, releasing eight full-lengths, selling millions of albums, and filling stadiums worldwide. Before fronting VOLBEAT, however, Poulsen formed death metal band DOMINUS, which recorded four fast, brutal albums in the mid-'90s.

When Poulsen was putting together songs for VOLBEAT's 2021 album "Servant Of The Mind", he wrote a bunch of death metal riffs and saved them on his phone. Then, when he was done with the VOLBEAT record, he reopened the rusty gates to Armageddon and started putting together songs for "Impii Hora", which is a tribute to Poulsen's favorite old-school groups. The songs are rooted in crushing riffs yet injected with strong guitar hooks and shout-along refrains.

While Poulsen sings in VOLBEAT and sang for DOMINUS, he didn't want to front ASINHELL. So, in March 2022, he called his old friend, ex-MORGOTH singer Marc Grewe (also of INSIDIOUS DISEASE) and invited him to join the party. They are joined in ASINHELL by RAUNCHY drummer Morten Toft Hansen.