Blind Illusion
The Sane Asylum

Ten years to leave a tangible mark of oneself... a moment to fall inexorably into the vortex of oblivion...

The history of Blind Illusion is definitely one of the most complicated and therefore most fascinating stories one can know in the rock realm. They are considered a legendary progressive thrash-metal band from the Bay Area of San Francisco, although at the time of their formation in 1978 by guitarist and singer Mark Beidermann, their musical identity was merely progressive rock-oriented.

The first shocking thing is the lineup with which Blind Illusion reached the recording of their first full-length for Combat Records in 1988, after previously having recorded only demos: Beidermann on guitar and vocals (later credited on bass with Heathen's "Victim of Deception" and on guitar with Blue Oyster Cult's "Imaginos"), Les Claypool and Larry Lalonde (ex-Possessed) on bass and guitar respectively (both of them the following year seeking fortune and finding it with Primus), and completing the exceptional lineup Mike Miner on drums.

The second shocking or unsettling thing is that some tracks on the platter that clearly have their roots in the most direct thrash, always sometimes maintaining a very seventies soul in some of their compositional cues - which makes them nothing short of ingenious - were likely composed several years before the platter's recording when very little was known about thrash, and thus we could say that Blind Illusion in some ways might have been among the first Bay Area groups to experiment with this new explosive musical blend.

This is already evident from the sounds of the second demo dated 1985 "Trilogy Of Terror", with the entry into the group of elements of the caliber of David Godfrey on vocals (later in Heathen), Pat Woods on guitar, Geno Side on bass, and Mike Miner on drums, with whom Blind Illusion's proposal veers towards a sound very similar to that of Angel Witch but much rougher, and becomes increasingly significant in the third demo of 1986 "Blood Shower" in which the thrash shift is complete. Meanwhile, of course, the lineup undergoes many changes amidst constant live performances highly followed and appreciated - there are 15 lineup changes counted over the ten years of the band's on-stage activities - until arriving at the magical quartet described above with which Beidermann and company can finally record for Combat Records this precious and unobtainable fragment of timeless perfection.

The beauty of "The Sane Asylum" is that it is a thrash metal album without really being one.

The cut of some cues that sink into a clear seventies prog matrix and the NWOBHM current accompany granite and tight riffs and decisive and granite rhythms, framing incendiary, sharp, and lethal solos, help create dark and nostalgic atmospheres, almost acoustic at times. Its greatness is that it never falls into thrash's compositional clichés, from the start preserving its own precise and highly original identity, and this is because the bass parts are always thundering and full-bodied (above all "Smash The Crystal") - the most clarifying example might be DiGiorgio's work on Death's "Individual Thought Patterns" - the guitars constantly oscillate between raw minimalism ("Vicious Visions") and the devastating impact typical of the genre ("Vengeance Is Mine", a real punch to the gums), now attacking mercilessly now cradling sweetly, between insolent slashes ("Blood Shower") and rarefied dreamlike landscapes rent by thunder ("Kamikazi" and the multifaceted and multicolored "Metamorphosis Of A Monster"), supported by good decisive and punctual drumming, never out of place.

The impression is that behind these sound choices, nothing is left to chance or to the compositional fury typical of most of the thrashers of the Bay Area of the time, but that the aggression has something insanely premeditated. An example above all is "Death Noise": a very oriental introduction after which we are projected into a sinister arabesque of stretched and sinister sounds only to be again overwhelmed by a thrash outburst. A sort of anti-climax that is damn intriguing.

The devastating amalgam of the four further contributes to making this masterpiece even more captivating, perhaps challenging on the first listen for thrash purists but certainly a canvas of unmistakable chromatic impact, floating between aggression and dream, which leaves little to illusion, capturing, drawing into its original timeless vortex.

See Ya!