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Metal-Experience e-zine - Asylum 45 |
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Tuesday, 13 March 2007 |
Metal-Experience e-zine March 2007
The Arnhem-based metal band Non-Divine took part of the Metal Grand Slam Tour 2001 presented by Aardschok magazine. For seven weeks the twenty-five shows went through the Netherlands and Belgium and stopped at venues like 013-Tilburg, Paradiso-Amsterdam, Flanagans-Brussel, Podium-Hardenberg and lots more. They also opened for big bands like Dio, Anthrax and the Murderdolls and can often be found on stages in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. Non-Divine receives lots of enthusiasm from the crowd and has built up an ever increasing fan base, which eventually contributed to winning the ninth edition of Aardschok’s Metal Bash in 2005.
In 2004 the band started the recording of the debut concept album ‘Asylum 45’ at the famous Hansen studios in Denmark; the studio of Invocator front man Jacob Hansen, who also recorded bands like Raunchy, Mercenary and Communic. In 2006 the band managed to raise interest from the Dutch Rusty Cage label, which jumped to the occasion and signed Non-Divine for two albums. This caused a slight delay in the release of ‘Asylum 45’, however it recently came out. It’s turned out to be a fictional concept album that takes place in a mental institution. In each song a patient tells his or her story. They all have totally different characters, which match the different songs on the album.
The album opens with the up-tempo song ‘One Man, One soul’, a solid song with heavy guitar work, ripping solos, booming bass drums and powerful vocal work by Ivor van Beek, who kind of reminds me of Fear Factory’s Burton C. Bell. The heavy New Die-Hard Vampire also contains the same groove, melody and well thought-out song structure as the rest of the songs on the album. ‘Sleep’, on the other hand, is calmer; the comparison to bands like Nickelback and Metallica, as mentioned in the added biography is not out of place here, but the rest of the songs are generally somewhat heavier than the recent work of both bands. Furthermore the album contains beautiful piano chords, as can be heard during the song ‘Mended Doll’. The next song ‘Love Loss’ has a quiet acoustic intro, after which the song transfers into a semi-ballad like instrumental song. The rest of the songs on the album contain the same powerful rhythms and the great groove; just listen to the up-tempo song ‘Visions’ or the concluder ‘Sympathy’.
With Asylum 45 Non-Divine has delivered a very strong debut album that’s solid as a rock. The production of Jacob Hansen is master class; the sound is big, clean and clear. Furthermore the band can be seen live very soon at the Dynamo in Eindhoven in celebration of Rusty Cage’s First Year’s Anniversary, and will play with Danish promise Volbeat in Four Reasons in Leiden at the Keytown Metalfest 2007.
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