Impii Hora CD

Asinhell’s debut album, Impii Hora, pressed on a standard CD.

For more than 20 years, vocalist/guitarist Michael 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 hard drive. Then, when he was done with the Volbeat record, he reopened the rusty gates to Armageddon and started putting together songs for his new death metal band Asinhell, whose debut album Impii Hora (Latin for Ungodly Hour), 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 (Insidious Disease) and invited him to join the party. After considering drummer friends from established bands, Poulsen asked Morten Toft Hansen from Danish group Raunchy to join. Not only does Morten play like a fiend possessed, his and Poulsen’s six-year-old daughters are good friends… and it takes just ten minutes to drive to Morten’s place.