From the moment ‘Desolate’ crashes in, Asylum Road sound like a band that means business. The number’s earliest riffs borrow, in part, from Testament and Machine Head but toughen them up considerably, and even before allowing their signature groove to take a hold, it’s pretty much guaranteed they have their audience’s attention.

The bulk of the track brings much bigger treats, however, with Paul Sandy’s guitar work quickly adopting a dirty sound, taking the main riff into more groove-oriented territory, providing the perfect compliment for frontman Darryn McCartney as he reaches inside himself for a full bodied performance driven by huge, growling tones. This doesn’t necessarily break new ground for Asylum Road, but it could certainly be argued that it didn’t really need to: ‘Desolation’, even with a slightly predictable approach, begins to sound like a classic contemporary metal track even before the chorus kicks in.

The chorus finds the band slowing down slightly, and with that, they sound a touch more menacing, with Eithan Murray’s drums taking on a bigger role, and for those who love their metal with a slightly more “trad” feel, a heavily wah-wahed lead guitar break eventually takes centre stage, with Sandy attacking his fretboard with intent. …And as everything starts to pull to a close, the band ensure their love for Lamb of God doesn’t go unchecked, since a semi spoken interlude set against extreme heaviness could’ve been pulled straight from ‘Ashes of The Wake’ or ‘Sacrament’.

The guitars are so heavy in places in can be hard to pick out the finer points of bassist (and co-writer) Brian Smyth’s contributions, but it’s fair to assume that his weighty bottom end adds some extra density throughout, helping Asylum Road to absolutely nail their groove metal sound. As with a lot of their previous works, ‘Desolate’ presents Asylum Road as sounding like the sum of their influences, but as always, this certainly is not a bad thing.

This is a track that presents the still up-and-coming band in superb shape; a band fully in command of some massive riffs, creating some awesome sounding metal that shares an unshakeable sound. If you’ve been following Asylum Road’s progress so far, it’s guaranteed you’ll love this.