David Angstrom (Supafuzz & Hermano) is in a new group, and it’s a hard one to ignore. Asylum On the Hill is a hard rocking, straight on, in your face band that takes no prisoners. With the double guitar attack of Angstrom (who also plays some banjo, but there’s no hint of country or bluegrass here) and Jeff Garner, there’s not a lot of quiet space on this recording. A very solid rhythm section featuring Phil Kring on drums and Jason Groves on bass keeps things more than hopping. All these guys are rock veterans, and the experience shows. If you like it hard, this is the CD for you.

So where did they get the name? There was this lovely federal institution that operated in Lexington, KY for 40 years known as the United States Narcotics Farm (the Asylum On the Hill). Got it? The place was, of course, on a farm not known for its’ crops. It was an experimental haven for drug addicts to recover from their habits, but it was also a prison for convicted addicts. The prisoners were often used as guinea pigs for experiments and would be rewarded for their participation with more drugs (hmmm). As one might imagine, this interesting mix wasn’t really conducive to recovery. The actual result was that it became a meeting place for the drug subculture to spend a little quality time together.  Oddly enough, some of our most famous, brilliant jazz musicians spent time there. This CD’s sonic mayhem is a bit of a tribute to the place, and just by coincidence, they list their homebase as Lexington.

The CD starts out rocking right from the get go with “I Got You”, quickly followed by “Bad Reputation”. By now you should be doing some head banging. Next up is the bluesy rocker “Go Tell It On the Mountain”, with its’ shout out loud vocals and prominent drumming by Phil Kring (oh yeah, there’s that banjo at the end). Some other standouts are the punk-like “Interruption”, my favorite, “Devil’s Disco”, and the whimsical “Some Kind of Wonderful”. There is one tune that’s toned down a bit called “Stones Will Wash Away”, and it’s rather tasty too.

As the CD glides from one track to the next you will hear traces of about a million rock bands all rolled into one. As their MySpace states, their influences are “all that is rock”, and you’d better believe it. If you like to rock, with fuzzed out, wha-wha’d, psychedelic, and otherwise distorted guitar riffs and vocals, there’s plenty of it here. All in all, this is a great CD. Good production, nice art work fitting the material, and even the CD itself looks cool. I’ve been a big fan of Angstrom for some time now and this one just reinforces that. I hope these guys play live around here soon. Their MySpace is /asylumonthehill and you can stream six of these tunes there. Go check it out soon.

About the author: Pennman bought his first 45 at age nine and has been hooked on rock ever since. He has spent much of his disposable income on music, especially live performances. He writes reviews of the shows he sees and keeps a keen lookout for upcoming shows in or near Bowling Green. He has a BA in Communications, specializing in journalism, and has dabbled in music himself, both as a player and instructor. Find more of Pennman’s work at www.associatedcontent.com/user/165511/pennman.html or visit him at www.myspace.com/pennman_bg or www.facebook.com/pennman