CD, Industrial Culture Records, 2008
www.myspace.com/6insaneasylum
What begins as more of a caustic digestive outlet for semi-organic pink noise slowly takes shape and gains depth with subsequent listening. The distorted, discordant initial impression of this EP by Insane Asylum evolves into something more coherent and cohesive as time passes, eventually growing into something pleasantly noisy, rather than the slapdash arrangement it seems to be.
The light-hearted attitude of the music, which is hardly in keeping with its serious industrial overtones, makes even more sense as track names like “Radioactive Emergency” and “Infected Biotope” are taken into account. In many ways, the melodramatic intensity of this recording makes it even more of a mockery of conventional rhythmic noise projects. In many ways, it’s like the attitude one has to take with many Extreme Metal aficionados, in the sheer ridiculousness of their spiked gauntlets and corpsepaint makeup: they obviously are taking things too far, so your reaction can only be the Newtonian opposite – you sit back and have a good, long chuckle at it. Certainly, Insane Asylum exhibits the technical proficiency on “Caustic factory Outlet” – it’s a stellar piece of production – to create a harsh industrial record, but the anger and social commentary usually associated with such an endeavour are somewhat lacking.
Perhaps I’ve got it all wrong and the intention was to craft a serious noise record, but it’s all just too over-the-top and theatrical, making the final result eminently listenable, in much the same way as Broadway musicals get stuck in the head for months after.
[6/10]
— David vander Merwe