Review by Jack on December 9, 2001.

Again Century Media Records in their wisdom, decide to run with another Identity # album, here we have “Identity 7: Deadly Sins”. Again like with their past Identity albums they all serve as good samplers to new and old band’s work. And as long as they keep pricing them moderately I will remain a happy person, as I’m sure much of the metal populace will too.

I am going to run through each band and their track and give a one word description which will save time and me going through my endless ramblings about not so good bands and good bands.

Iced Earth ‘Jack’: They can no wrong in my book, and with such a quality song title. Successful bridge between two genres.
Krisiun ‘Evil Gods Havoc’: Shaping up to be one of my favourite traditional death metal acts.
God Forbid ‘Go Your Own Way’: Decent old metal thrash/death from these fellas.
Haste ‘Confessions of a Lesser Known Saint’: A bit girly, vocalist is a bit soft for my liking.
Cryptopsy ‘Shroud’: Boring... this brand of death metal just puts me to sleep.
Candiria ‘Without Water’: Absolute crap for the first half of the song, then it becomes an average track.
Skinlab ‘Come ‘n’ Get It’: I really can’t dig the nu-metal riffs these fellas employ, which in turn makes it hard to appreciate this song.
Stuck Mojo ‘Ten Years’: One of the best tracks from Stuck Mojo’s last album. SO damn catchy.
Jag Panzer ‘Take in the Sky’: Never liked Jag Panzer’s tunes, and ‘Take in the Sky’ ain’t going to change it.
Onward ‘Witches Winter Eternal’: Funny, overblown power metal, that actually does work.
Lacuna Coil ‘To Live is to Hide’: Nice track with good vocal interplay. One of Lacuna Coil’s better outputs.
Tad Morose ‘Another Time Around’: Catchy chorus leaves the rest of this song for dead.
Nevermore ‘The River Dragon has Come’: About the average track on “Identity 7: Deadly Sin”, which isn’t too bad of a thing.
...And Oceans ‘Esprit De Corps’: In the top three for tracks on this compilation. Bombastic synthesized goodness.
Sigh ‘Corpsecry’: Psychedelic metal from Japan, Sigh are pretty good, and you should check out their album “Imaginary Sonicscape”.
Scar Culture ‘Keep it to Myself’: Not too bad, vocalist sounds something like Adam from Alchemist with his spoken lyrical voice.
The Forsaken ‘Betrayal Between Individuals’: I suppose you could call this black metal, and its not too bad.
Carnal Forge ‘Covered with Fire (I’m Hell)’: Soilwork-esque screams accompany American type death metal. Average really.
Eyehategod ‘Self Medication Blues’: I hate Eyehategod, they write such slow grindy crap.

Bottom Line: Like with “Identity 6”, “Identity 7” won’t be winning any music awards for thought on track selection or playing lists, but serves as a cheap introduction to some unknown band’s work.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Originality: N/A
Musicianship: 7
Atmosphere: 5.5
Production: 8
Overall: 5.5

Rating: 6.5 out of 10

Review by Felix on July 10, 2019.

Perhaps it is unfair, but the first thing that called to my mind when listening to Incoming Death for the first time was that the riff of "Division Brandenburg" lies in close proximity to that of Marduk's unsparing war elegy "Wartheland". Or is it just the very similar atmosphere of these two songs or the fact that the lyrics of both tracks deal with the most difficult chapter of the German history that makes me think of Marduk's fourth track of "Frontschwein"? However, two things can be taken for granted. Firstly, "Division Brandenburg" has everything that a fantastic piece needs in view of its stomping drums and the typical abysmal riffs of Asphyx that were established by songs such as "Scorbutics". Secondly, the Dutch army with the competent German mercenary Stefan Hüskens on drums does not need to adopt other people's songs. Already the rather unusual mix of (more or less) pure doom monsters and rapid death eruptions indicates the individuality of Asphyx (in sharp contrast to the genre typical and pretty banal artwork). Not to mention the fact that the ambassadors of apocalyptic fierceness have proven their song-writing skills on the predecessors of the here presented work. 

The band has not written the new climax of its discography, but there is no reason for concern as well. Frontman van Drunen and his henchmen have not misplaced their proven recipe. On the one hand, merciless neckbreakers like the opener and the title track connect primitiveness with violence and the effect is still amazing. On the other hand, viscous doom songs such as "Subterra Incognita" mirror the band's affinity for slow acting poisons and hold the heavyweight versions of Leif Edling riffs. Listen closely to the sinister "Wardroid"; the sequence that sets in at 2:08 invites the audience to celebrate a candle mass. The closer has to be mentioned in this context, because it stands in the tradition of "As the Magma Mammoth Rises". This means that "Death: The Only Immortal" combines grandeur with sluggish heaviness and the result is a monumental event. But due to my weakness for fast rhythms, I am of the opinion that especially each and every speedster works in a mind-blowing manner. Since the creation of extreme metal, brutality and velocity have always been a good team. Not to mention the efficient guitar work. The partially minimalist riffs appear as pinpoint stitches, while the full sound comes as a tank which leaves a trail of devastation. No doubt, the massive production sets the right frame for Asphyx' orgy of aggression. The sound of Incoming Death is not better nor worse than that of its two predecessors and this can be understood as a great compliment.

The small problem - and I would like to emphasize the word "small" (actually I wanted to capitalize this word, but there is nothing more incoherent than to write "small" in uppercase letters: "SMALL"... this looks so moronic, it pisses me off) - that I have with the album is based on the doom tracks. Some relatively tedious parts have crept in. While the fast pieces are the blazing flames of a conflagration - "Wildland Fire" delivers the fitting lyrics in this context -, "The Grand Denial" is only a smoldering fire. However, Asphyx have not forged lame fillers just to make the record complete. The vast majority of the riffs leaves a massive impact and the general aura of the album is the exact opposite of a plea for clemency. Guess it goes without saying that van Drunen plays his part in this respect. His voice sounds as inhuman as ever. From my point of view, he does not belong to the most charismatic singers, but he works authentically instead of intending to win a death metal beauty contest. However, the quintessence is that the deathhammer is still active. Asphyx do not enter new dimensions, but Incoming Death confirms the high compositional standard of the formation. Although the bonus section is pretty useless, the group retains its credibility and the regular tracks offer a high dose of metallic robustness. Highlights? With the exception of the rather pale "Forerunners of the Apocalypse", I recommend all tracks of the regular edition that do not surpass the four minutes mark.

Rating: 8 out of 10