I hate to be discouraging to new, young bands, but sometimes it's necessary. Black Asylum is out doing what they love, and the fact that they've gotten as far as they have has officially ensured that they are already more successful than I'll ever be, and that fact is really more of a testament to how utterly pathetic I am than how great their music is. These guys play a forgettable brand of modern "thrash". Think of newer Exodus and Kreator, except with Matt Heafy's biggest fan behind the mic and full of decently skilled musicians without a lick of songwriting talent. It has more in common with metalcore than anything else, but there are a few tried and true thrash riffs strewn about between the Pantera inspired chunk riffs and metalcore yells, so classifying it as the same bastardization of thrash as the aforementioned bands isn't unforgivable.
It's hard to babble on at length about Truths of the Blood, simply because of how mind bogglingly boring it is. It's not headache inducing like Gojira, nor is it infuriating like Meshuggah, it's just inconsequential and insignificant. I liken it to the same problem I addressed with Human Filleted's Hideous Sculptures of the Dead, in that it's so pointless and meaningless that I just can't help but be angry at it. The main difference is that while Human Filleted is a completely shameless Suffocation clone, Black Asylum doesn't necessarily rip off one band, but instead rehashes bad ideas from several. The vocals are reminiscent of Trivium and Bullet for my Valentine, the drumming is very typical and predictable, and the guitars mainly play boring metalcore/melodeath riffs and melodies while occasionally ripping out a bona fide thrash moment just to keep the listener on his or her toes. For example, the song "Victims of the Fall" starts of with a boring chug riff that was undoubtedly inspired by one of Pantera's less inspired moments. The song plods through the motions for about 4:12, until an unexpected drum fill tears through and makes way for the first interesting moment of the record, a hyperspeed thrash riff that lasts for a mere twenty two seconds before revisiting the initial plod riff. It's disgusting, the entire album flirts with entertainment but seems content to suck. For every one cool part, there are three shitty ones and twelve boring ones.
There's a reason that Black Asylum doesn't have a wide fanbase, and that's because they play an uninspired form of music that has already passed it's peak in popularity, and they aren't particularly good at it to start with. Bullet for my Valentine, Trivium, and Avenged Sevenfold fans may find something worthwhile beneath the plastic, but I think even half of them will find this forgettable and worthless. Black Asylum is undoubtedly more metal than the bands I find them most comparable to, but contrary to what Manowar has taught us, more metal doesn't necessarily mean better.
RATING - 29%
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