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Digital Steel - Asylum 45 |
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Saturday, 05 May 2007 |
After winning the big Dutch metal award Aardschoks’ Metal Bash competition in 2005 and signing a two recorddeal late 2006 with the Dutch Rusty Cage Records, the road lies open for Non-Divine to launch their debut album Asylum 45 successfully into Europe and the USA. Be that as it may, they wouldn’t be the first to drown before graduating their swimming exam! But that, my dear metal heads, is nót the case! This is a well-balanced, very well produced debut album. There are all kind of influences into their groovy metal, Metallica and Galactic Cowboys to name a few, but they have created their own sound on this album. It’s a concept album about psychiatric patients whose characteristics reflect in the songs to be in short. All songs are written by band members Ivor and Martin van Beek.
The rhythm guitar and powerful bass guitar produce a heavy though melodic sound, where the lead guitar suspects that there has been listened to a few solos of Kirk Hammett. The opening Oh yeah! of New die-hard vampire could be a copy of an evil James Hetfield walking on alcohol during ‘(Re)Load’. The dragging groove of Sleep takes you into the head of the psychiatric patient. Goosebumps if that’s your style but that’s also the case with the instrumental Love loss, a relaxed safe haven on the album.
After listening to the pounding rhythms of Visions (You just try to keep your head and foot still on this beat!) and the mature song Sympathy, sympathy is exactly what I feel for these 4 guys. A great debut album; they’ve passed their swimming exam! A bit of chauvinism for this Dutch band is not misplaced and it’s good to know they have a two recorddeal!
Rating: 84 /100 review Kojak
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