Asylums offer a night of raw emotion, thrashy riffs and a head banging of a kind that makes whiplash look like a thing of the past.

As The Hope & Ruin begins to fill, I can’t help feeling that the first two supports tonight could not be less suited to the vibe Asylums create. Both Dove House and Episodes bring a far more synthesised and chilled ambience within their music. I would further say that it is in fact Episodes who steal the spotlight for the entirety of the evening. They are able to not only pack the room more than both bands to follow, but are the only ones this evening to be able to get the room swaying along to their trance-like synthed sounds. Tracks such as ‘Hunny Please’ hold one of the few examples this evening of the majority of the room knowing the lyrics and vocalist, Alana Westhall, holds a very distinctive quirk to her voice that offers a unique feel to each Episodes number, making them definitely a band to be watching.

As BlackWaters, who are accompanying Asylums throughout their tour begin, the tone for the rest of the evening is more appropriately set. The band’s enthusiasm does seem to overtake their musical composure as they scream their lyrics and dart around the stage, yet a more disconcerting fact is that the room has almost emptied since Episodes have played, leaving only an awkward few to applaud the boys.

Asylums soon continue the raw punk vibes, as afro headed and self-proclaimed Sideshow Bob lookalike, vocalist Luke Branch, takes to the stage. Beginning with the opening track ‘Second Class Sex’ from their new debut album; Killer Brain Waves, the track offers a vast build up and phenomenal level of riff and, as the chorus kicks in, I am very much expecting a mosh pit to open up. What I instead see, is that not a single member of the audience moving, let alone moshing. This is no fault of Asylums, they sound great and are more than willing to play with an eagerness, as though they were in a sell-out venue, it is just a somewhat poor response from the crowd that deflates the song and makes the room feel empty and distant.

As second track, ‘Seen Your Face In A Music Magazine’ begins, the band continue to bounce and jump around the stage for the duration of the song. Guitarist, Jazz Miel, has a very particular level of excitement, his long hair is thrashed all over the place and his movements almost appear animated or as though he were undergoing some form of musical exorcism. Drummer, Henry Tyler, too is able to excellently harmonise with Luke and his style of drumming brings a nice level of depth to each number.

Despite the somewhat unresponsive crowd, Luke is not afraid to thrust himself into the attendees for tracks such as ‘Wet Dream Fanzine’ in an attempt to get everyone moving. Luke does do everything right, bouncing around the floor and bumping into audience members, yet once again is unsuccessful in making any sort of lasting impact. I can’t help feeling almost sorry for Asylums, as the guys seem to be giving it their all for little to no reciprocation.

The intervals between each song do give a nice humanistic angle to the evening. Whereas many bands want to give the impression they have already reached rock-stardom, Luke tells us how all of the band still have day jobs to support themselves and speaks of an event on the tour whereby the door of their van fell off and the mechanic sent to fix it refused to charge the boys for the repair, in exchange for a copy of their album, which brought a very refreshing and warming aspect to the evening.

By the time the set reaches its twilight, the guys are still playing strong, during ‘Missing Persons’, Luke asks everyone to take a step forward, yet this is a simple decoy as he then proceeds to flop into the audience as they catch and lift him up for a matter of seconds, I am half covering my eyes as I expect to hear a hard thump hitting the sticky wooden floor. The night does still hold an encore and as a slower number begins, Luke asks everyone to sit on the floor, everyone complies and this actually offers a nice highlight for the evening. As the song is played you can hear a nice level of emotion in the vocals, you can see too how much this band and these lyrics mean to the rest of the band.

As a whole, Asylums do offer a great show and whilst they may not go down in the history books as a band who changed rock and roll, Killer Brain Waves still remains a fantastic album to let out any angst you may have against the world. I feel that should the audience have been more prepared to cooperate with the band, this evening would have been far more engaging. I hope to see Asylums again in the future, as they are sure to find their feet and offer shows in which not only do they sound great, but the entirety of the room will be singing alongside them.
Ben Walker

Website: asylumsband.com
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