Here's a little nugget from the vaults, brought to you by the fine folks over at Shadow Kingdom Records. 3-3-88 is the long lost final demo recording from Maryland doom act Asylum on March 3, 1988 (obviously) before the band became Unorthodox in 1992. Newly remastered from the original master tapes, 3-3-88 can now be enjoyed by metalheads of all ages.
Though they labeled themselves doom, Asylum actually had a decent amount of biker/acid rock to their sound as well, using bits of Black Sabbath, MC5, Steppenwolf, Pentagram, and Blue Cheer to form their energetic and heavy style. Blues based but certainly metallic, there's also a fair amount of jamming and instrumental interplay going on here, especially within the albums four instrumentals. "Road to Ruin" is an excellent, fast paced & muscular tune, with some of the arrangements reminding of both Manilla Road and very early Rush, while the blending of lush acoustics with piledriving bluesy guitar rock on "Forgotten Image" brings to mind The James Gang. In the end though, it's the instrumental tracks that bring the most excitement on 3-3-88, as tunes like "Unorthodox" and "Funk 51" contain all sorts of inventive power trio riffing and extended solos, the somewhat weak lead vocals allowed to take a rest while the bands formidable musical skills take over fully.
Overall, 3-3-88 is a fun listen, and while I wouldn't really call anything on here 'doom' as we normally associate with that style of metal, the music is still muscular enough for any fan of heavy music, and well worth seeking out.
Track Listing
1.
World in Trouble 03:36
2.
Mystified 05:09
3.
Time Bomb 02:34
4.
Road to Ruin 04:18
5.
Psyche World 03:54
6.
Forgotten Image 05:15
7.
Nowhere 05:24
8.
Indecision 03:47
9.
Funk 51 02:43
10. Unorthodox
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