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REVIEW: Light Asylum 'Light Asylum'

17 July 2012 | 9:00 am | Staff Writer

US buzz band Light Asylum have got a little something for you. If you dare...

Brooklyn duo LIGHT ASYLUM have created some major buzz both at home and in the abroad over their self-titled debut. With wraps coming from music royalty like NME, LIGHT ASYLUM (and their self titled debut) should not be taken… lightly.

The album is a collection of abrasive industrial new-wave/electronica, the perfect soundtrack for real-life Dexter re-enactments or similar mechanized torture.  With titles like ‘Sins of the Flesh’, how could it not be?

 

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Opener ‘Hour Fortress’ sets the tone with a thumping bass-line interspersed with warped church-bell sounds and some jarring vocal input from Bruno Coviello. Follow-up ‘Pope Will Roll’ continues the trend, with in-your-face percussion and choppy video-game sound FX.

LIGHT ASYLUM flirt with retro influences, with the occasional nod to NEW ORDER and DEPECHE MODE (see ‘Shallow Tears’) but the record is generally more reminiscent of contemporary electronica like KONTRAVOID and CRYSTAL CASTLES. Tracks like ‘IPC’ display a similar frenetic intensity melded with an air of paranoia and anxiety, quickly realized as hallmarks of the LIGHT ASYLUM sound.

 

The darkness subsides momentarily with ‘Angel Tongue’, but don’t get too comfortable. The cut-throat intensity returns with ‘At Will’, and rounds out nicely with ‘End of Days’ permeating that same sense of sickening unease as it predecessors.

 

The only respite comes with the introduction of Shannon Funchess on select tracks. Coviello’s vocals are softened by the angelic Funchess, taking the menacing edge off tracks like ‘Heart of Dust’, but even she has a capacity for ferocity as demonstrated later.

 

There is a distinctly dystopian feel to this record, juxtaposing modern production technologies with dark vocal themes. Rigid, unrelenting and brutally oppressive, the album has a nightmarish, Brave New World feel, with haunting synth lines sure to stick with you for days to come.

 

 

It won’t be for everyone, but it won’t be quickly forgotten. Experience LIGHT ASYLUM.