Asylon

In recent years Canada's Neuraxis has continued to improve and grow with the release of each album. The band's latest, Asylon, sees Neuraxis continuing on this positive trajectory.

Asylon is a well-balanced blend of the band's recent past. Neuraxis combines elements of brutality and technicality with plenty of melody and catchy hooks. In fact, this combination vaguely reminds me of Decrepit Birth's Polarity albeit with less overall variety and less "progressive" tendencies. The top-notch production helps to further illustrate this comparison along with a guest appearance by Decrepit Birth's own "lead hobo," Bill Robinson, on the track "Savior and Destroyer." Granted, Asylon does not sound like Decrepit Birth, but Neuraxis creates from a different recipe while using some similar ingredients.

For some reason, I had a creeping suspicion that Neuraxis was flirting with a more mainstream audience on its last album, The Thin Line Between, but I don't get that impression from Asylon. The new album takes elements from The Thin Line Between and cranks up the intensity and the technicality. It's like Neuraxis decided to blend the heavier sound of 2005's Trilateral Progression with the accessibility of The Thin Line Between. The result is a forceful and intense album that manages to be catchy while still maintaining plenty of street cred. Asylon is packed with an abundance of technical riffs, soulful leads, rapid-fire blast beats, and pulverizing double-bass to keep most death metal dudes satisfied. "Purity" is the only song that might catch the listener off-guard on the first listen due to its oddly melodic harmonic-laden chorus which actually matches the theme of the song quite appropriately. But "Purity" is so catchy that most people won't even care about the song's somewhat inconsistent atmosphere after a couple of runs through the album.

On Asylon, Neuraxis have done an outstanding job of walking the tightrope between being brutal and being catchy without sounding too commercial. The album somehow feels "song oriented" while the band still crams tons of parts into each track. There is so much for the listener to digest that one will hear something new with each listen, but there's also plenty to latch onto instantly. This nearly flawless mixture makes Asylon Neuraxis' best album to date.

Originally written for http://www.metalpsalter.com

If a band changes all its working components, is it still the same band? Do they necessarily have the same artistic vision as their predecessors? If the band still continues to make great music, honestly I don't care. Such is the case with Canadian tech-death stalwarts Neuraxis. Their music has evolved to sound tighter, more technical and more modernized, redefining the term “progressive”, especially on their latest, Asylon. However, you don't need a strong neurological system for this release, just a strong neck to keep up with a meal of constant riffs and drum patterns, served with a side of Bloodbath-style lows and a satisfyingly clean production for dessert.

Despite suffering the loss of their rhythm section, the band are strong in their delivery. Milley and LeBlanc are an impressive songwriting double-team, from the breakneck speed of the title track to the slowed approach of “Resilience”. This latter track is used as a moment of relief; a smart risk for the band to take, it adds variety and avoids the album becoming stale. Not that there is a chance of that, as each song has its own touch that differs from the rest. My personal favorite, “Purity”, is perfectly placed in the album; the melody mixes well with the aggression, the listener is acclimatized to the vocals and there is an impressive solo to boot. Flaws on this album are minimal; even the atonal riffing and pinch harmonics, which are usually a peeve of mine, still work in this case. A couple of production hiccups aside, there is little room for complaint.

LeBlanc, the latest in a line of vocalists, growls even lower than the previous one, mostly akin to Beneath The Massacre's Désgagnes and Bloodbath's Åkerfeldt. Perhaps with less variety than Campbell, but the lyrics more than make up for it. The album concept is that of a reptile-human hybrid trapped in an asylum, which only becomes clear by the last track. Even “V”, its lyrics dedicated to a snake's attack pattern, is captured brilliantly in musical and lyrical form. However, you can ignore the words and the vocals still interweave remarkably well with the music.

In short, this is a must for any fan of death metal, especially those who like the technical side such as Obscura, Necrophagist and Decrepit Birth. Even those who only have a passing interest in the genre may find something here in this musical asylum.

Originally posted at www.blackwindmetal.blogspot.com

When I think of technical death metal, I generally think of two camps. There's the Necrophagist camp of highly polished complexity, sort of like a brutal version of Dream Theater, if you don't mind the unorthodox comparison. And then there's the Suffocation camp, utterly without polish and with an impenetrable sound. But lately, some have been forging their own path. Canada's Neuraxis is one of them.

Despite the fact that two of the band's members are named Olivier, and the other two have names that could be mistaken for girls' names (like my own), there is absolutely nothing girly or sissy about Asylon. Neuraxis plays what is essentially old school death metal, with a filthy and brutal sound. The only difference is, the riffs they play have a lot of notes, and they're played with precision. Even without polished production, the performance is spot-on virtuosity, and it's amazing.

Every member holds their own technically, despite rapid changes in pace and riff, and they all perform with conviction. Especially worthy of note are Alex LeBlanc's death growls, which easily stand up to comparisons with Mikael Åkerfeldt, Peter Tägtgren, or any other fantastic death growler you could think of.

Not only do they have the style, production, and chops, but they also have the songs. These songs have barbed hooks that dig in, do their damage, and don't let go. "Asylum" and "Savior & Destroyer" are particularly worthy of note, the latter having a melodic riff that may draw comparisons to Decrepit Birth. "Purity" feels like an epic because of its sound and structure, despite its short length. And the whole album clocks in at a satisfying 39 minutes, so it's satisfying but doesn't overstay its welcome.

The Verdict: This is a fantastic album that feels like old-school death metal played in a technical style, with everything you could possibly want. It's still early in the year, but this is the best album so far.

originally written for http://fullmetalattorney.blogspot.com/

Neuraxis have honed themselves towards perfection in numerous categories through their 17 year existence, not the least of which is in the production of their albums. Asylon, the band's 6th full length album is even more terse, cohesive and forceful than its predecessor The Thin Line Between, which was packed with interesting grooves that acted upon the listener's conscience like the sterile hypnosis of machinery in some test laboratory, with you as the subject. Asylon paints in broader strokes than that 2008 effort, returning to some of the more brutal impetus that characterizes Canadian death metal, but they have maintained enough of the mechanical regimen that it plays out with a well-oiled, fluid consistency.

Of course, the pristine polish of the album is likely to turn off those who have a loathe on for all death metal modern, technical and interesting, but then, they would be unlikely to check out a Neuraxis album in the first place. Those who covet the sounds of Beneath the Massacre, Origin, Despised Icon, Cryptopsy, and the entire host of modern Californian death metal bands will probably find a lot to appreciate here, especially where the album carves out the most variation, like the narrative shifts of "Trauma"; the unforgiving hostility of a "Savior and Destroyer"; and the uncanny, warm twists of melody imparted in "Asylum". The leads are all cautiously wrought, and the band do an impressive job of avoiding monotony despite the fact that they could blast and wank all year long and never even feel a tiring in their joints.

All said and done, I did not find Asylon to be quite as mesmeric as its direct predecessor. The blunt delivery of Alex LeBlanc by this point has worn a little thin with me. His vocal chops are more than suitable to any band in this style, but they're rarely inventive in phrasing, a mere cypher of bludgeoning force with no murderous intent behind the eyes. There are some good pieces here, like "Asylum", "By the Flesh", and the manic thrashing of "V" which I've been repeatedly visiting, but as a whole I found myself too able to skip some of the ballast. The band is wise to offer some breaks in the action later on the track list ("Resilience" and the calm that marks a portion of "Purity"), but these points are not quite curious of their own accord. This is sleek, modern, and well rehearsed fare which makes a good enough account of itself, and surely would offer a few thrills to the tech death purist in favor of high production standards, but its not imbued with the breath of ages.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com