Strap yourself in for a white-knuckle ride with thrilling Irish band Asylum Road, who fuse the aggression of groove metal with intricate melodies and emotional core.
The quartet from Derry, in the northwest of Ireland, started out a couple of years ago with guitarist Darryn McCartney, bassist and pianist Brian Smyth and drummer Eithan Murray. But the current lineup was only finalised in December 2024 when they onboarded guitarist Paul Sandy. Asylum Road established themselves in the metal scene with their debut EP The Fear, before releasing Cerca Trova, the lead single from their highly anticipated second EP of the same name, earlier this year.
And on the sound they’ve crafted, the band told us: “The sound took some time to cement, the new EP Cerca Trova is more complex in terms of its dynamics and the complexity of the chords, riffs, structures etc… Our last EP was stripped back and very much about keeping things simple, so it’s a change for sure. Once Paul joined, he shared a back catalogue of tunes he had been writing over the years, so we were spoilt for choice and the EP is mostly derived from that.”
Our latest taste of this is the powerful Mask of Oblivion, which was released today. It opens up with light guitars and a building background noise that leads into a laid-back guitar lick in a slightly ominous intro. A distant chugging riff kicks in and leads into a heavy opening verse led by intense screamed vocals. That flows into a powerful chorus with clean and screamed vocals that begins “I just wanna die, To feel alive, Leave it all behind me.” A darting riff takes over alongside more intense screamed vocals, which flow into another big chorus. A laid-back guitar comes in over chugging guitar chords, picking up pace in a delicious atmospheric solo. The pace slows as a plodding piano section brings the track to a sombre conclusion.
Speaking ahead of the release, the band said: “We cannot wait to release this. Mask of Oblivion was one of those songs that was 2/3rds finished for months, we knew there was something there, and after countless versions and edits we landed on something we all love. In terms of what to expect, it’s a slow burner at first; it’s about mental health and masking trauma, so the opening section is really atmospheric. After that, it’s a combo of a heavy groove-based verse and a bass-driven chorus with melodic vocals. Something we have never tried before. The finale is our favourite part. Paul came in to practice one day with a solo to go over the piano/choir outro we were working on. Once we heard that, we knew it was just a case of piecing it all together.”
That follows on from Cerca Trova, which has a much heavier groove metal feel, blasting into a heavy riff and driving drums that continue under a fearsome growl and feed into a violent opening verse. Intense cries of “cerca trova” follow, before heavy instrumentals loop us back into another intense verse and chorus, which ends with a lively smash of guitars and drums that intensify a notch alongside vicious vocals. The pace eventually slows down around halfway through with light guitars continuing under spoken vocals, which end with a huge scream and the delicious powerful riff and drums.
And there’s plenty more where that came from on The Fear EP, including the moody opening track Malignant, the more groovy title track The Fear, and the intense closing track Requiem.
The Asylum Road sound is influenced by an eclectic mix of bands and styles. The rhythm section of Eithan and Brian are heavily influenced by the likes of Whitechapel, Revocation, Rivers of Nihil and the Zenith Passage. Darryn is big into Kiss and Pantera, Paul and Eithan both love Gojira and, as a collective, they draw on influences as varied as Lamb of God, Machine Head, Thin Lizzy, Phil Collins and the Eagles.
And on what inspires them to write music, the band explains: “For the four of us, it’s about doing what we love. Getting into a practice space with our instruments and jamming. We all love metal, and love having the opportunity to write and perform. The subjects vary from mental health, through to drinking, politics, relationships, but they all share the same core theme of catharsis. There is nothing better than metal for clearing the head.”
Asylum Road just signed with Reaction Management ahead of the Cerca Trova record being released via SODEH Records. They’ve already started work on another EP and they’ll be playing a live show in Belfast next month, with the hope of getting more gigs across the UK and at local and regional metal festivals.
And they added: “We love being in a band, but this takes a huge amount of time, energy and passion. If you can support us, or other artists trying to make new metal, please do. Listen, like, share, buy some merch… whatever, we really appreciate it.”
You can follow Asylum Road on Facebook and Instagram, and check out their music on Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube.
Listen to Asylum Road and more new metal on our Spotify playlists GigRadar Core and GigRadar Metal
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