Earlier this year I already reviewed a demo by this act from Houston, which showed quite some potential. They now managed to release a proper full-lenght album. And again they display a highly varied combination of musical styles, which they acknowledge themselves by naming diverse influences such as Joy Division, Laibach, Kraftwerk, Death in June and KLF. The image of Asmodeus X is rather tough, even militant perhaps. Most of the music though is rather clean and poppy, at times approaching synthpop. On some tracks the band shows a louder sound, in a more industrial crossover style. I think the vocals could be a little more convincing on some tracks.
Though I don’t find each song equally strong, Asmodeus X certainly has the ability to write a catchy tune. There are some tracks on this ‘Wolf Age” album which could do quite well at (cyber)gothic inclined dancefloors, especially ‘Songs of Glory’, which reminds me of some Swedish synth acts. Other listening tips: ‘Melting’, ‘Mandatory Sacrifice’ and ‘White Mountains’, a nice instrumental folky song. The album is closed by a weird cover version of The Partridge Family (!), ‘Point me in the direction of Albuquerque’.
