The Axis of Perdition

"With the scream of the air raid siren I know, I know I'm finally coming home..."

- The Axis of Perdition, "Heaving Salvation in the Paradise of Rust"

The Axis of Perdition is a band formed in England in 2001. Originally they were known as Axis of Perdition, but they added "The" to their name in 2004 to indicate that the band is a specific entity. While their music is predominantly Black Metal with large doses of Dark Ambient and Industrial, they consider themselves to be primarily an Ambient band that uses metal as a "texture".

The band's music, lyrics, and artwork are inspired heavily by the Silent Hill series of video games; their demo and first album also included references to HP Lovecraft and Stephen King. The Axis present themselves as a hellish psychiatric hospital of sorts, with their albums as "treatments" and listeners as "patients".

The band's hospital's current members doctors are:


 * Brooke Johnson - vocals, electronics
 * Mike Blenkarn - guitar, keyboards, programming, electronics
 * Ian Fenwick - bass
 * Dan Mullins - drums
 * Chris Walsh - guitar
 * Richard Brass - guitar
 * S.B. - electronics
 * Leslie Simpson - narration

Albums Treatments:


 * Corridors (demo, 2002) - actually a split release with the band's Dark Ambient "mother", Pulsefear; limited to 20 copies
 * The Ichneumon Method (And Less Welcome Techniques) (full-length, 2003)
 * Physical Illucinations in the Sewer of Xuchilbara (The Red God) (EP, 2004) - first release as The Axis of Perdition; introduced the band's current concept; limited to 666 copies
 * Deleted Scenes from the Transition Hospital (full-length, 2005)
 * Urfe (full-length, 2009) - a double album consisting of the first two parts of the Urfe trilogy, Grief of the Unclean and The Great Unwashed
 * Tenements (of the Anointed Flesh) (full-length, 2011) - conclusion to the Urfe saga

Tropes from the Dark Red Other:

 * Abandoned Hospital: Deleted Scenes from the Transition Hospital is set in one, as is part of the Urfe saga.
 * Ascend to A Higher Plane of Existence:
 * Body Horror: The Flesh Spiral, and most of the creatures encountered by Urfe.
 * Book Ends:
 * Call Back: The lyrics for "Disintegration" reference The Ichneumon Method.
 * Concept Album: Everything from Physical Illucinations onwards for sure, possibly their earlier releases as well.
 * Digital Piracy Is Evil: Averted with Corridors.
 * Distinct Double Album: Urfe.
 * Eldritch Location: The Axis itself, and by extension the locations inside it such as Locus Eyrie and the Transition Hospital.
 * Metal Scream
 * Old Shame: The band sees Corridors as this and refuses to reissue it, though two re-recorded songs from it ended up on The Ichneumon Method and they leaked it to file-sharing sites. The fans for the most part don't seem to dislike it as much as the band does.
 * Overly Long Name: Just look at the album list.
 * Self-Deprecation: Much of the band's promotion of their albums seems to consist of calling them awful, but of course the fans just don't listen...
 * Spell My Name With a "The"
 * Spoken Word in Music: Mostly on Urfe, but every album has some.