Blind Illusion were yet another Bay Area metal band who featured two members that later were to form Primus. The Sane Asylum is an album I bought upon release based on the overwhelmingly positive reviews, promising a highly creative thrash metal effort. At the time it did not click with me, and a few years later I parted with it. Recently I had another opportunity to pick an original up at a reasonable cost, and this time I'm enjoying considerably more. So what was the original problem and why is it more appealing now? It's the production - or lack thereof. It's incredibly thin, and you really have to crank up the stereo to get any kind of impact. In 1988 I would have been looking for more crunch and heaviness. Today that isn't as important as the compositions themselves, which really are wildly all over the place - within each song. I've always enjoyed this era of late 80s metal when bands were making it up as they went along. Controlled chaos. Still, this is no prog album and there's no question of its metal heritage, but the impact is diminished by its production.
Ownership: LP: 1988 Combat. Recent online acquisition.
