When you listen to a band’s debut, there’s always a sense of curiosity - how much will they lean on their influences? Will they bring something new to the table? Asylum 22’s Harmonious Dementia doesn’t try to rewrite the death metal playbook, but it doesn’t have to. This album wears its old-school influences proudly and delivers a sound that’s fierce, relentless, and steeped in the genre’s raw energy.
The guitars are the first thing to grab your attention. They’re sharp and aggressive, tearing through riffs like a buzzsaw. But they don’t just rely on speed - there’s an impressive amount of weight in the slower, groovier sections, which hit just as hard. The shifts in tempo feel deliberate, giving the songs a natural ebb and flow that keeps you hooked, even when the music is at its most chaotic.
The bass might not be the star of the show, but it holds its ground, giving the music a depth that you can feel as much as you hear. It’s not flashy, but it’s undeniably effective.
For all its heaviness, Harmonious Dementia has moments where you can sense something darker bubbling under the surface. It’s not overly dramatic - this isn’t an album that goes out of its way to sound "epic" - but there are subtle touches here and there that add an extra layer of tension. It’s the kind of detail you might not notice on a first listen, but it’s there, and it gives the album more replay value.
Of course, no debut is perfect. There are points where the band seems to play it safe, sticking closely to tried-and-true death metal formulas. That’s not necessarily a bad thing - if you’re a fan of the genre, you’ll find plenty to enjoy - but it does leave you wondering what they might achieve if they pushed the envelope a little further. Then again, that’s part of what makes debuts so exciting: they’re a starting point, a foundation to build on.
At the end of the day, Harmonious Dementia does exactly what it sets out to do. It’s a brutal, unfiltered blast of old-school death metal that’s as uncompromising as it is satisfying. Asylum 22 isn’t trying to reinvent the wheel here, but they’ve created something that feels genuine - and that’s worth celebrating. If this is what they can deliver right out of the gate, it’s exciting to think about where they’ll go from here.