Audio Asylum gig review by Thom Yorke of ArtCity magazine

Gig: Basement 20

Closing the night were the headline band AUDIO ASYLUM, Swanning into the performance space in the midst of a delay pedal swamped, noisy introduction. They cracked straight on with their fairly funky, yet melodic brand of hard rock. While sometimes slipping into what sounded, almost like prog, they kept their hard rock chops with tight riffing and non-stop simple, powerful drumming. It was easy to tell from the get-go that this was a band who knew exactly what they were doing. While being extremely skilled at each instrument, they gelled together perfectly.

The bass consisted of surprisingly complex, yet rib-rattling basslines which could be likened to The Specials and even funk bands such as Level 42 (in a positive way), all the while both guitars fly between fairly light Talking Heads new-wave sort of melodies into heavier bridges and breaks like those of early Radiohead. Their sound is both complicated and affected, without ever going over-the-top or sounding forced or ostentatious. The lead vocals were constantly melodic, even over the height of the aggression, akin to those of Jeff Buckley or even Ian Curtis at times. The singers powerful voice more than matched the power of the music and blended, along with everything else, into the rich tapestry of sound that was AUDIO ASYLUM.

AUDIO ASYLUM show how great music never needs to be forced under a single banner. Their uncategorizable sound and striking performances, work to create music that is extremely impressive, interesting and original. 4/5.