Another lost gem unearthed by Vic Records, Asphyxiator's 1997 album Trapped Between Two Worlds is a delight of old-school thrashy death metal. The reissue includes new artwork and the bonus track "Shattered Existence."

What struck me the most is that the album is quite varied as it goes from borderline brutal death metal to more restrained and more melodic borderline thrash numbers. Some of this stuff is like, "well, this could almost be on a Cannibal Corpse album" while some is more akin to aggressive, raw German thrash, albeit including enough of a death vibe to stay on that side of the fence. So, lots of speed and insane blast beats and enough heaviness to crush you into submission, but also a hell of a lot of air-guitar-worthy riffs that are so pure old school, it hurts. That guitar sound they got here is razor-sharp but also raw, aggressive and heavy, so there's a lot of fun to be had. While a lot of sounds are simply in your face, some have a rather dark and kind of horror-like, creepy atmosphere that the band could have used more consistently and really made a mark with the album, and unfortunately this was their only release. So, it's a little all over the place, almost feeling more like a compilation than an album, but there's so much good music here that it can be forgiven. I think these guys really had a good thing going and it's a shame that they split up as there was a lot of potential on this album. Now, if you'll excuse me, I just started the album again and I have to go rock the fuck out.