ASYLUM

Longshot was in fact a shot in the dark for me when I bought it. I'm checking out quite a few neo bands lately and this is one of them. All I knew was they are from France and sound somewhat like Genesis and Marillion. Well this is said of a lot of neobands so what's it worth exactly ? Not much to me.

Check out for yourself is always the best solution and that's what I decided to do. First song is the Asylum Overture, the least you can say after only a few minutes this is no subtle band by any means. It could even be categorized as heavy prog if the album goes on like this. The vocalist does it in the same style. It's obviously a Frenchman singing English; to be honest I don't understand much of what he is singing, it doesn't really bother me but it's at least something I notice. Instrumentally the song goes a few times in different directions, so variation is certainly there. All in all I like what I hear in this overture very much. My rating for this would be 4,5* or something near that score.

The Deleted File starts off even heavier than the opener at least where the guitar is concerned. The keyboards setting in a bit later are more sophisticated. The guitar sounds a bit out of tune all the time but I think it's either meant that way or deceptive because I can't imagine they did this deliberately. It does sound original in a way, I never heard a guitar sounding like this, that's for sure. After several minutes listening I must conclude that despite the heaviness it is certainly neoprog after all, just a rougher kind of it. This second track is slightly less compositionwise than first track but it's the second very long track that's more than acceptable. I like their style of songwriting. This would get some 3,5* in my book.

Third track is one of the two shorter ones on this album and it's not a very impressive one I have to say. Miracle Man is a bit of a sloppy song without significant moments. It's probably the least of the album (2,75*).

Next, The Ballad of Peter Blackfrog is the second longest track of the album and where style is concerned sounding like the first two. After two or three listens this was my favourite song of the album. But listening to it more intense I must admit the instrumental part towards the end is too repetitive, dragging on too long so to speak. Still a very good track deserving some 4 stars all in all.

Endless is a middle length track and not quite the best of them all. It has the same kind of sloppiness as third track but has more substance as a song (3*). So far I haven't heard any similarity with Genesis or Marillion. This band sounds more like Magic Pie or Cryptic Vision, a sort of rougher edged symphonic prog is what I'm hearing.

Welcome to the Mind Surgery Clinic is the longest song of the album. Again in the same vein as first two and forth track. You have to like the style if you want to like this album. If you don't it's useless, this album is much of the same. Personally I don't mind but I'm sure this is not everybody's cup of tea. (3,75*)

Last in line is Armageddon, another shorter one and also one I don't like personally (2,75*). It's an accessible song but not in a pleasant way to me.

This is another mindbreaker for the decision of the rating. I think I will decide for the four stars because I really like the 3 longest tracks and they measure about 60% of the total albumtime. But beware, this is a very personal thing. The ratingdiscription excellent addition to ANY prog music collection is certainly not the right one for this album. Check it out in the store before buying. An advantage is that if you check out the first song, you have a pretty good idea for the entire album.