Biography
Asinhell emerged as a power trio devoted to retro death metal, assembled by Michael Poulsen—guitarist and lead vocalist of Volbeat—alongside drummer Morten Toft Hansen of the Danish group Raunchy and vocalist Marc Grewe, previously frontman of Morgoth. The band’s sound and aesthetic deliberately echo the classic death metal acts Poulsen admired during his teenage years: Death, Bolt Thrower, Entombed, Autopsy, Grave, and Darkthrone. Poulsen’s songwriting emphasizes both grooves and hooks while maintaining the trio’s unrelenting heaviness. Initial discussions among Poulsen, Grewe, and Hansen began via telephone in March 2022, after which rehearsal demos were tracked and exchanged online within a matter of months. The group then secured a multi-album agreement with Metal Blade and entered the studio to record its debut album under veteran producer Jacob Hansen, who also performed bass on the sessions. The resulting record, Impii Hora, appeared in September 2023.
Throughout the 1990s Poulsen led the groove-oriented death metal band Dominus, which released four well-received albums. He derived the name Volbeat from Dominus’s third album, Vol.Beat, issued in 1997. The visceral pull of that earlier style never faded. While preparing material for Volbeat’s Servant of the Mind, Poulsen found himself generating an abundance of death metal riffs; rather than discarding them, he committed the ideas to demo form and set them aside. In March 2022 he contacted longtime associate Marc Grewe with an invitation to form a new project; Grewe accepted immediately. After evaluating several candidates, Poulsen recruited Morten Toft Hansen, and the pair began rehearsing, composing, and shaping arrangements together. From his home in Germany, Grewe practiced vocal parts over phone recordings forwarded by his bandmates.
Tracking took place at Jacob Hansen’s studio in Denmark, where the producer also laid down bass tracks before handling mixing and mastering duties. Poulsen asked Volbeat’s management to locate a suitable label, resulting in a direct signing by Metal Blade founder Brian Slagel. The band’s debut single and video, “Fall of the Loyal Warrior,” surfaced in June 2023, followed by the full-length Impii Hora—whose Latin title translates as “ungodly hour”—that September.
Throughout the 1990s Poulsen led the groove-oriented death metal band Dominus, which released four well-received albums. He derived the name Volbeat from Dominus’s third album, Vol.Beat, issued in 1997. The visceral pull of that earlier style never faded. While preparing material for Volbeat’s Servant of the Mind, Poulsen found himself generating an abundance of death metal riffs; rather than discarding them, he committed the ideas to demo form and set them aside. In March 2022 he contacted longtime associate Marc Grewe with an invitation to form a new project; Grewe accepted immediately. After evaluating several candidates, Poulsen recruited Morten Toft Hansen, and the pair began rehearsing, composing, and shaping arrangements together. From his home in Germany, Grewe practiced vocal parts over phone recordings forwarded by his bandmates.
Tracking took place at Jacob Hansen’s studio in Denmark, where the producer also laid down bass tracks before handling mixing and mastering duties. Poulsen asked Volbeat’s management to locate a suitable label, resulting in a direct signing by Metal Blade founder Brian Slagel. The band’s debut single and video, “Fall of the Loyal Warrior,” surfaced in June 2023, followed by the full-length Impii Hora—whose Latin title translates as “ungodly hour”—that September.
Albums
Singles
