Audio Asylum demo review courtesy of Jason Boner @ Mangone Music - 10/10

Audio Asylum is a four piece alternative/indie rock band from Liverpool. As musicians, they have been successful in their previous bands and success is already beginning to emerge for them collectively as Audio Asylum. Since they formed in Summer 2010, they have enjoyed strong radio play and a string of gigs at some of Liverpool’s top venues and events, such as Bumper and the Mathew Street Fringe Festival.

The opening song of the demo is Into The Fire. It is a song about last chances and actively pursuing what you want in life, before your time runs out and everything that was within reach fades away from your grasp. Into The Fire starts with an energetic build up of catchy guitar hooks and riffs before launching into the first verse of vocals. The energy of the opening continues on throughout the song and sets the tone for the three songs included in this demo.

Into The Fire is followed up by Autonomy. It is a song about confronting our fears and having the independence to stand on our own two feet and move on in life, despite what atrocities may take place in everyday life. Autonomy initially does not appear to have the same energy to it as Into The Fire, instead opting to go with more of a slower pace. However, it always feels as though it is building up towards something until half way through; when it switches up to build upon the momentum of Into The Fire and perfectly set up the final song of the trilogy, appropriately titled Pressure.

The closing song of the demo is Pressure. It is a song about finding yourself in a situation with mounting pressure and you bounce back and respond to the pressure you are feeling on your shoulders. From the very opening of Pressure, it feels as though it is building to a climax and the guitars, drums and haunting vocals always help to bring that feeling forward. The bass guitar riff in the mid-section of the song launches the song into an instrumental for the final 100 seconds climax of the demo.

In summary, my favourite song of the three is Pressure as it always has a pace and an atmosphere that is worthy of being placed at the start or the end of any release. Just over half way through the song, when you think it is about to end, it continues and gains momentum throughout with an unanticipated instrumental, which lasts for a minute and 40 seconds. For a band that have only been together for a year, their tightness of their timing on all of these three songs would suggest otherwise, as they are recorded as though they had been rehearsing for a lot longer.

The three song demo is a preview of their upcoming EP, which is scheduled for release in late 2011. The three songs are available for free on CD at gigs and for free streaming from Audio Asylum’s official MySpace Music Profile at http://www.myspace.com/audioasylumuk so make sure to give them all a good listening to and buy their EP upon release. If you like their music, then support them at the Ticket Wall New Music Competition by voting for Into The Fire at http://competition.ticketwall.org/track/audioasylum-into-the-fire/ which could help launch the next big thing!

CD Rating: 10 out of 10

Tracklisting:
Into The Fire [3:04]
Autonomy [3:31]
Pressure [4:04]
Article by Jason