Asylum are a technical/blackened death metal outfit from Fort Worth, Texas that were formed in 2012 and have released the debut of their full-length entitled Psalms Of Paralysis. Their musical influences ranges from Behemoth, Decrepit Birth, Suffocation, Dark Funeral, Dimmu Borgir, Job For A Cowboy, Bloodbath, Skeletonwitch and Belphegor with the lyricism mainly discussing disorders, spirituality and Psychiatry. Released through Metal Rising Records on March 17th, 2017 Psalms Of Paralysis takes its toll to combine technical and blackened death metal to new heights as the craftsmanship, musical structures and the atmosphere passages that penetrates the album’s presentation is undeniably fresh and absolutely natural.
When you take the heaviness from songs such as Conjuring Fog, Obsidian Spine, Neuroslave and the opening track Apprehensia brings out the coldest, deepest and pulsing chills shivering down your spine while the members of Asylum do a remarkable job balancing out melodic instrumentation and a production so sharp there’s hardly any instrumentals feeling forced. Lyrically, the album pictures an emotional expression as the intelligence and creativity manages to bring best of both worlds to this artistic artwork being represented here not only showcases how Asylum pulled off Technical and Blackened Death Metal just perfectly organic but rather take inspiration that makes the listener wanting more to witness head bang worthy material. Lastly, Psalms Of Paralysis is a album you can easily thrive off on both Black and Death Metal that’s emotional, heavy and memorable but it’s a blend so incredibly special it just works so damn well.
Overall Score: 8.0/10
Review by Jake Butler
