As mentioned when posting songs from Morne’s excellent Untold Wait last year, the Boston post-sludge quintet got a boost in visibility when Darkthrone included their name, along with Teitanblood, in the Dennis Dread drawing on the cover of their 2010 dispatch Circle The Wagon. (Showing his predilection for Morne, Darkthrone’s Fenriz told me: “Ted [Nocturno Culto] and me had settled for Morne. Dennis [Dread] drew in Teitanblood, we both like them as well.”) With the release of their brilliant sophomore full-length Asylum, the band’s even more deserving the namedrop: This 7-song, hour-plus collection features their most beautifully heavy, deeply atmospheric, patiently devastating recordings to date. Folks still seem to reference Isis — maybe because of the Beantown origins and post-metal song lengths — but it’s safer comparing them to Bay Area doom heavies Asunder: At times there’s a dirty, crusty, even punk feel here, despite the elegance (member’s have played in Filth Of Mankind, Disrupt, Grief, etc.) and where Amber Asylum’s Jackie Perez-Gratz contributed to Asunder’s Works Will Come Undone, AA’s Kris Force guested on Untold Wait and shows up again on Asylum via closer “Volition” (as does Jarboe). Whatever comparisons you want to make (people will undoubtedly reference Neurosis), Asylum is a magisterial record, one that establishes something masterful with the 17-minute opening title track and doesn’t diminish. Get a sense of how things crest continually via Track 6 “My Return.”

• Morne – “My Return” 

Asylum:

01 “Asylum” (17:11)
02 “Edge Of The Sky” (5:09)
03 “Nothing To Remain” (9:03)
04 “I Will See You” (10:40)
05 “Killing Fields” (6:03)
06 “My Return” (8:35)
07 “Volition” (9:26)

Asylum is out 6/14 via Profound Lore and on vinyl via Alerta Antifascista. If you’re in the NYC area, you can catch them 4/23 at Union Pool with Batillus (album release) and Belus.