Maximum Metal Rating Legend

Axis Of Perdition - Deleted Scenes From The Transition Hospital - 2005 - Code 666

Track Listing1. In The Hallway Of Crawling Filth 2. The Elevator Beneath The Valve 3. Pendulum Prey 4. Isolation Cubicle 5. Entangled In Mannequin Limbs 6. This, Then, Is Paradise? 7. One Day You Will Understand Why 8. In The Gauze Womb Of The God Becoming

Imagine walking through a dead city, haunted by millions that were mass murdered by an atom bomb. The spirits around you are whispering words you can't quite make out all at once. You've disturbed their solitude, and as you know, the dead hate the living. What if they focused all of their pent up rage and despair for their cultural genocide into a physical incarnation, and then attacked you with it? Now they've gotten inside your head and are besieged with visions of their horror and loss. Imagine visions of family lines that were annihilated off the face of the earth, all gone in a second and a bomb flash. Imagine thousands of dead children crying, fading in and out like a transistor radio picking up a signal too faint to discern it's intent.

As you may be able to tell, this album really got to me. "Deleted Scenes from the Transition Hospital" has shown me that the Axis has traveled even further down their path of sonic deconstructionism than the last time I dared visit them. Compared to their last full-length, "The Ichneumon Method", AOP have moved further away from making what most people (me included) would even consider music, and are now creating ghostly worlds built entirely of sound, much like the acts you'd find on the "cold meat industries" label.

That's not to say that this album is entirely industrial/ambient. Musically, the Axis of Perdition are following the "post black metal" school of thought, using elements of Mayhem's latter-day output, Ulver's "Marriage of Heaven and Hell", and Epel Duath's flirtation with jazz as guideposts. To some, this is a style that is falling out of favor for the rawer traditionalism that is considered the cutting edge in black metal these days, but AOP use these elements to great effect, much like a radio tuner set on scan. Ironically enough, it's the black metal elements on this album that are soothing. They play just enough to ground you, but really they're just setting you up for the next attack on your psyche.

Since the Axis of Perdition as a musical entity is so hard to pin down stylistically, this is probably an album that will only appeal to a select few. However, if you enjoy experimental music, horror soundtracks, and think you can hack it, this is a really rewarding listen. But I dare you to listen to this all by yourself, in the dark...


--Timmy D. 05.06.05