This really took me by surprise. I had never heard of Australia’s Asylum. Judging by the album cover you would think this was a death metal band. Asylum play really good thrash metal and Marquee Records has put together an awesome reissue compiling both of the bands releases. Their Slaughterhouse ep from 2013 and Concealed Death 2016 ep. So essentially when you put them together on 1 disc you have a full-length of 10 total songs. The release begins with their most recent output, the Concealed Death release with the title track. Super heavy guitar tone and enough crunch to make Cap’n Crunch go running towards the woods.

The band had some line-up shifts with both eps. Anyway, the title track is ass-kicking and very catchy. “Demon’s Call” has a little blast beat part with excellent drums-double bass shines quite a lot. Nice mid-section mid-paced part and then the tune erupts into a Gary Holt influenced guitar solo. Nice drum rolls and excellent thrashing end to end the entire song. Really mean sounding.A lot of classic elements, like the gallop thrash beat to start “Scopolomine”. This is a monstrous thrashing tune with razor guitars-lopping heads off shoulders worldwide. This ep has a very strong Exodus vibe, which is a huge plus for me. Excellent guitar solos and another winner of a song, with a nice blast section at the end of the song.

The other 2 songs are just as strong, before the Slaughterhouse ep kicks in. The first thing you notice is the production drop-off. This ep has a much rawer, less polished feel. The music is good, but you could tell the band had not hone their craft yet and were still figuring things out, such as the gang vocals. The “Slaughterhouse” track is good and nice double bass. The cymbals were used too much and creates sections where it’s a bit of a wall of noise and they overpower the rest of the music. Trapped is a melodic mid-paced tune with lots of solos. The band does a nice job of covering Metallica’s 8+ minute song “Disposable Heroes” from Master of Puppets. All the thrash, solos and rhythm parts they have down, pretty good, a little sloppy in some parts and not too tight. The singer did not have the range of Hetfield, so the vocals are a bit monotone. However, it is an unusual Metallica tune to cover, as it’s a real long tune, so I commend Asylum for doing a decent job.

As usual, Armando Pereira, overseeing this reissue ensures everything is top-notch. Beautiful cd tray layout and panels. The booklet contains lyrics, pictures, flyers and both ep covers to boot. Rafael Orsi does a great remastering job of both ep’s-killer. The good thing is that Asylum are still around, so next release needs to be a full-length. If you’re a fan of the 80’s Bay Area thrash metal sound, you really will enjoy Concealed Death by Asylum. It’s a real fun album.

 

[Visit the band's website]

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