Artist: Elimi
Title: The Asylum
Type: Album
Label: Eerie Art

This second album from Swedish black metal act Elimi was originally due to be released via ATMF, though in the end it came out on Eerie Art recordings. The reasons for this aren’t at this moment very clear, but it’s also not that important. The Asylum is advertised as being a “psychological story;” unfortunately I don’t have a great deal of time to delve into the lyrics before writing this but even a five minute flick through the booklet reveals a true sense of madness in the words that are hurriedly scrawled on the page. It reveals a person desperate to escape, trapped in a living hell and confused between reality and fantasy. Locked in an asylum, kept drugged by doctors who think they know what is best but who just make things worse. It documents the person running from the ‘pitch black hellhole’ and then waking up and realising it was all a dream. Dreaming of a death that won’t come. I have to wonder if any of the lyrics are in fact inspired by the suicide of former band member Verrot in 2008, whom the album is dedicated to.

Musically this is no less interesting. These six tracks make up a well-crafted black metal album that blends together uncompromising rawness and ferocity with genuine emotion. The vocals of Garm are callous and intense and you can hear there is a real sense of anger and fury in his delivery. ‘Withered With Time’ has quite a smooth rhythm; the bass is nice and thick and the riffs are harsh and potter along at mid-pace. What is interesting is the way the tracks blend together seamlessly; as ‘Don’t Speak’ comes in with a callous rasp you don’t quite notice until suddenly it picks up pace, sweeps up with some really angry guitars as the cymbals crash vehemently, before dropping right back down for the verse. There are some mean vocal bellows at this point that add a nice touch to things. ‘Like Suphur’ blasts its way in with a real sense of chaos as calamitous drums help build the right kind of atmosphere along with some ice-cold guitars. For a while there is a kind of solitary calm, then with a thud, it all spirals into mayhem.

‘Revenge’ changes the pace quite drastically as things crawl along with a real sense of menace, as it creates rather an uneasy atmosphere. The vocals are squawked out with a maddened sense of anger, and you can feel the intensity building up until it all goes hurtling out at full speed. This is perhaps my favourite track on the album. There is a hint of Shining in this release and it’s one Kvarforth would no doubt be proud of. All in all it’s a skilfully crafted sophomore album and I really hope we hear more of them on the back of this. Good stuff!

http://www.myspace.com/elimi