Review Summary: Besides the bad quality recording, this album isn't bad for their first REAL recording. Give it a chance!
Being that I have seen this band around and owning their EP from when they were Mannequin Love Affair, I decided to download their full length "Asylum." The album has some good and some bad that I will try to explain.
Straight away the Intro was the typical chug chug intro just like Underneath the Gun and Winds of Plague so I was thinking this may go no where but hey, I like breakdowns so it was whatever. The guitars bothered me but I looked past it and continued.
The actual songs had moments where they sounded repetitive but some were catchy such as Insanity, Asylum, Room 13, Disease, Lobotomy and Quarantine. I really liked the change of sound in Lobotomy because it was a breather from the usual tremelo and chug chug sound so that was a plus to me. The solo in Asylum also was a little change to me which showed the band had potential.
The vocals were pretty solid, well atleast the highs were. Some of the guturals and the few inhales were a little out of place but hey, once again it is their first release and not every band has that solid sound right away. The guitars were quite bland but at times they made some good riffs and the solo did stand out. The bass lines that actually stood at times was pretty sick like in Murder and Voices so that was another plus. The keyboardist was bland but showed potential but according to the band's myspace, they have a new keyboardist so maybe she will show more potential. The drums were pretty damn sick, I noticed a lot of potential from their drummer. He had pretty damn perfect timing and made the band look a little better.
Their breakdowns were also a plus. Yes they were pretty much chug chug throughout all of them but they didn't sound like your typical simplistic hardcore breakdowns. They definitely sounded like they showed talent in writing something new. The breakdowns in Murder (the one at the end), Voices (at the end) and Insanity were pretty ***ing sick so I approve of those few. Some of the others were a little boring.
All and all, I wouldn't say this album sucked or I wouldn't recommend them, I'd say give it a chance because we all have different tastes and I'm sure they'll make a solid sound for themselves by the next demo/album/EP or whatever. As a fan of black metal, death metal and hardcore, this did please me in all areas of those genres so I say give it a chance. Every band isn't going to be the next Winds of Plague or Abigail Williams right away. I'd definitely check out their new music whenever they put out something new just to see if there is a difference.
So in conclusion, besides the bad quality, this album was good. If you like deathcore with keyboards, check out this album because you never know, you may like it.
