ALBUM REVIEW: Genetic Cabaret – Asylums

Standing tall atop the smouldering ashes of a nation slipping further and further into a mire of despair and uncertainty, British quartet ASYLUMS are firmly back on these shores following an intercontinental recording process, and they’re ready to kick down the door of whatever establishment they can find. Unlike some raucous hardcore gang or thunderous death metal outfit, however, this fast-rising collective trade in the sledgehammer for barbed words and stinging verbal potshots on third album Genetic Cabaret, leaving us with a record that is more important than ever in today’s fractured society.

Opening track Catalogue Kids evokes images of early-nineties MANIC STREET PREACHERS, combining a full-throttle approach with melody by the bucket-load and a willingness to tackle the kind of heavier subjects that many modern artists would choose to steer well clear of. It’s a bold start to the album but one that helps to set the stall out nice and early for what’s to come.

There’s a more refined, mid-paced feel to A Perfect Life In a Perfect World, allowing it room to breathe and giving the band the chance to indulge in their more expansive tendencies. It’s an anthem, pure and simple, with a chorus that wouldn’t be out of place on a PIXIES record or, for that matter, a PET SHOP BOYS one. This universality is incredibly impressive, providing a real crossover appeal that puts ASYLUMS in pole position to take that next step up the ladder onto bigger and better stages.

The influence of legendary producer Steve Albini is evident across the whole record, as Genetic Cabaret manages to sound both razor-sharp and fuzzed-up, often at the same time. It sounds like it could have been produced at any time over the last few decades, and it’s this almost timeless quality that makes this such an instantaneous record. There are elements that reveal themselves to you over the course of repeat listens, naturally, but there are enough hooks and genuinely catchy passages here to sink your teeth into right from the word go.

Just looking down the list of song titles will give you an insight into the social commentary at the forefront of everything this record stands for – A Town Full of Boarded Up Windows, Clean Money, and Who Writes Tomorrows Headlines? to name just a few. ‘What do I feed my baby on now that the dreams are gone?’, from the first of this trio, is a line that offers a particularly stark look into the kind of situation experienced by many in this modern, divided and inherently flawed iteration of Britain we currently find ourselves living in.

Despite their mostly negative, gloomy themes – an apt reflection of the world around us – the lyrical turns of phrase on this record are for the most part rather excellent; another by-product of a band influenced by some of alternative music’s most accomplished lyricists. The oxymoronic nature of a collection of songs being both thematically dark yet undeniably infectious is hardly a new trope, NIRVANA made some of the most important music of all time using this exact blueprint, but it is nonetheless a very difficult thing to pull off in a convincing manner. ASYLUMS manage it, though, creating an album that could subtly infiltrate a party as background music with also neatly summing up the tensions permeating every corner of the modern world for those who want to pay attention.

The Miracle Age is perhaps a misstep musically, as its slower pace doesn’t add much to proceedings apart from another set of admittedly hard-hitting lyrics that could have been better supported with the chugging guitars and foot-stomping rhythmic sections that only appear during the closing stages. This is only a relatively small gripe though, and on the flip side it at least demonstrates a band who aren’t afraid to mix up the tempo to create an interesting, dynamic record. It’s these gear shifts that make it damn near impossible to pigeonhole this album, as it flickers between punk, alternative and indie with such regularity that, on tracks like Yuppie Germs, you’re battered with each genre in under three minutes.

In short then, this is a record that is well worth your time; a piece of work that gives up plenty of secrets very quickly while still keeping enough back for you to uncover as the weeks drift past. In other words, it’s very good indeed.

Rating: 8/10

Genetic Cabaret is set for release on July 17th via Cool Thing Records.

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