ASYLUM – Beyond Beliefs

Black and Thrash Metal are usually associated with bands like Bewitched or Destroyer 666. In the case of Asylum it’s quite different. Although there are similarities in the vocal line, if you look real close you will find a kind of modern Thrash / Heavy Metal music infused with semi-harsh, thin vocals, who sometimes sounds like the boyish version of U.D.O..

These Polish dudes have been around since 2002 and they are still unsigned. They began under the name Lord Cypher, two years later, their name was changed to Guardian Of Souls and after they were bored with that one, the name Asylum was born. Since their formation, they have had many line-up changes, but they were able to hang on to release their first EP release, 6 years after they arose, named Beyond Beliefs. So if you want to hear good music with soaring vocals that will remind you of corpse paint, try this one.

Truth be told , the production of this EP is above average and it sounds professional with touches of Old School to it. The music is flowing with bits of melody, cool solo breaks, which give the notion of emotions, crushing guitar main riffs with a deep sound , high quality drum work that shadows the quality of the drums that is not that super only if you like a vintage sound, it will do you good. Finally, there are the vocals. Unlike Black Metal, you can hear that the growl here is not 100%. The voice is quite thin, like all Black Metal growlers, but you can hear the raspiness in it, which is why it sounds like a young version of U.D.O.. When you connect this voice with the band’s music, the result is a great synergy between them. The negative side of this recording is that there are some similarities between songs regarding the riffs. The good thing is that this fact is partly overwhelmed by other sections of the songs.

The highlights out of Beyond Beliefs: the opener “The Beast” , you can feel that something was unleashed from its cage. The rhythm is pretty basic, but the solos are amazing. The structure of the song is quite expected but Asylum is filling their part with great skill. “Beyond Beliefs”, sounds like a mixture of a slow tempo Power Metal and Melodic Death Metal tunes. The riffs are a nice listen, although they repeat themselves. The break that takes over the middle of the track changes the atmosphere around the song with a fast pace, galloping rhythm and a great solo. “Chainsaw” , musically is a great track of Heavy / Thrash Metal killing machine. In the case of the vocals, the performance is OK. “Antichrist” , featured on the W.Y.A.T show, is a solid track that shows a much darker side of Asylum , more close to Black / Thrash than any other track. The only problem is that the same picking of the riffs is similar to other songs in the EP.

If you like this special mixture, you should try this album. If you like Black / Thrash , this release will also suffice you , because we all know from where Black Metal came from and it’s not from a deep underground. The Metal world will see that Asylum are not done and they will come forward soon.