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 H.P. 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

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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: The conclusion of Tenements, after a fashion.
• Body Horror: The Flesh Spiral, and most of the creatures encountered by Urfe.
• Book Ends: "It began, and ends, with Pylon."
• 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.