Ladies and gentleman the almighty Neuraxis has returned from the depths of hell to enslave humanity once again. Their new album entitled Asylon, out on Prosthetic Records, is their first album in three years since The Thin Line Between. On this album, the band has managed to create more of the same, finely tuned technical death metal that’s main goal is to burrow itself within our ears and slowly tear us apart piece by piece — or at least try to.

The album opener, “Reptile”, gives the album a strong start. With its deep space-esque intro, this song introduces us to a slew of technical riffing, inhuman drumming, and semi-understandable guttural vocals. Basically rinse and repeat for the rest of the album as the battle plan does not deviate from the initial execution. Now, I’m not saying this is a bad thing per se,  it’s just that Neuraxis play a form of death metal that isn’t exactly orgasmic to everyone’s ears. What they play, they play well and to tell you the truth, the album is a semi-masterpiece within the genre. On the other hand, the band really needs to add something different (new?) to their music. Especially when the album does drag on midway through.

Other than that, the album has its strong points such as the songs “Savior and Destroyer,” “Trauma,” and “Purity;” with these three tunes the band added more dynamic parts that flow and perfectly mesh well within them. Also their lyrics base is something I always loved by them since most of their songs stay within the science fiction realm of things.

None the less, despite the occasional slump, Asylon is definitely a worthy album and Neuraxis still deserve their somewhat legendary status — especially when their excellent back catalog is taken into account. However, they really need to start playing around with new, different ideas rather than sticking with the same old formula — even if it still works to an extend.

[Visit the band's website]

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