Band of the Day: Aphyxion

Another of in our series of Band of the Day features “in their own words”. Today’s BotD are Aphyxion and they… well, that would be a spoiler. Sit back, relax and read!

Simple things first – where are you guys from?

We’re from a little town called Ribe in the southern part of Denmark.

aphyxion-aftermathHow did you meet?

Jakob, Jonas, Jais and Bertil all knew each other through school. I met Jakob when I started skating, and through him I got to know the other guys. They were playing in a rock cover band, but we soon decided to start up our own.

How long have you been playing as a band?

9 years. Since we were around 13 years old.

Before you get sick of being asked… where does the band name come from?

Haha… well, we decided the band name just when we started. I think I was checking out some evil Latin words and fell over “asphyxia”. And then we just decided Aphyxion sounded way cooler…

What are your influences?

ABBA and Soilwork.

Describe your music. What makes you unique?

Melodic metal with electronic layers and hook-based growl vocals.

What makes us unique is the way we think about songwriting and vocals. We work very hard on making vocal hooks with Michael’s growl. And then, we try to mix in more rock-sounding elements, instead of riff upon riff all the time. All while still keeping it metal. At least, we like to think that! Ha ha!

Do you have any particular lyrical themes?

Yeah. We never really dug the typical death metal “I’ll eat your arm and drink your blood” approach. All the band’s lyrics on our first album, Earth Entangled were more or less about caring for our planet. The lyrics on Aftermath include more themes, like identity and war.

What’s your live show like? How many shows have you played?

Energetic. With lots of guitars and yelling. I guess we’ve played around 120-130 shows by now.

What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen or done at a live show?

Actually, when we played our first school-tour in the beginning of 2016 we played for this insane crowd at one the places. Those kids were insane! They really dug the music. The crazy thing was, that they started throwing this little dude around. And in throwing I mean throwing! He literally went several meters up in the air and then landed back into the moshpit full of kids. It was seriously mind-blowing!

What kit do you use / guitars do you play / etc.?

Jakob uses a Mapex M-Birch kit, a Black Panther snare and Anatolian Baris and Ultimate cymbals. Jonas plays both Schecter Blackjack and Hellraiser – both C-1s with EMG 81 and 85 – and he is playing an ENGL Fireball. Bertil uses an Ibanez RG and a ESP  TE401 – also with EMG 81 and 85 – and he is playing a Peavey 6505. Jais uses a Musicman Stingray and is going directly into his sansamp.

What are your plans for the rest of 2016 / 2017?

Well, in January we will be going on a really weird but cool tour. A Danish organisation called Live Music in Schools has hired us for 20 shows at Danish public schools around the country. We did it last year as well with great success. Those kids really dig metal!

In February and March we’re going to tour the Danish venues around the country. We’ve got around 10 dates and can’t wait to get out there with our new album and live show.

Next summer we’ve got some festival activity planned, but we aren’t sure just how much yet. We haven’t planned anything in the fall yet.

If you were second on a three-band bill, which band would you love to be supporting and which band would you choose to open for you? A chance to plug someone you’ve toured with, or a mate’s band we’ve not heard of before!

I think everyone in the band has a soft spot for Bring Me the Horizon – supporting them would be sick. A good opener would be Unseen Faith from Denmark. Check them out.

[dropcap]A[/dropcap]ftermath is out now and you can [amazon text=get it from Amazon&asin=B01MA6P2FT].

Aphyxion: official | facebook | twitter

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February 10, 2023 5:52 PM

[…] spoken to Aphyxion before, some time ago, but with new music and lineup and – most importantly – both an album and video being […]