Warlock Asylum, a meeting of minds from Uptown, Manhattan and Greenpoint, Brooklyn, is the collaboration between poet / sound designer Messiah-el Bey and multi-instrumentalist / engineer Steve Berson. Together they have created a trip-hop soundscape over which Messiah-el drops spoken word poetry and vocalized hooks, for their first album, "Kiss of The Immortal," released by Total Sonic Media in 2009.
More the aural equivalent of a graphic novel than a concept album, "Kiss of The Immortal" in words and music loosely tells the first part of the tale of Messiah-el and Lilith, soul mates in Eternity who are separated from each other by their birth into the mortal world. As Messiah-el searches to be reunited with his love, the album details his struggles navigating through a Gotham-esque labyrinth of trials and temptations.
Warlock Asylum's sound can be traced to numerous influences, ranging from artists as diverse as Public Enemy, RZA, Fela Kuti, Portishead, Dead Can Dance, Babatunde Olatunji, The Last Poets, Squarepusher, The Beatles, and Gil Scot Heron. Drawing from these inspirations they have created a unique hard beat based ambient vortex that draws strength from both the ancient and the future.
