My Obsession demo CD was the first work from the Dutch quartet NON-DIVINE that was released in 2001. Actually, this release gave the band the opportunity to participate in 'Metal Grand Slam Tour' presented by Aardschok magazine in the same year. The tour was pretty successful and lasted seven weeks taking NON-DIVINE to big venues in The Netherlands and Belgium supporting acts like DIO, ANTHRAX and AFTER FOREVER. The band's reputation grew bigger after their participation to the 'Aardschock Metal Bash' competition in 2003 where they won the 'Best band of Arnhem' title. After almost 6 years NON-DIVINE are ready to present to the Metal scene the debut full-length album under the title Asylum 45.
Asylum 45 is a concept album that deals with the lives of several patients in a psychiatric hospital. Despite the quite depressive and sensitive matter of patients suffering from psychiatric diseases the album's sound is most of the times uplifting. This is exactly how the album opens with One Man, One Soul and In Shame where the groovy guitar riffs lead us to a melodic and really catchy chorus. NON-DIVINE sounds pretty much mainstream here, following bands like PAPAROACH with a little more heaviness in them.   Ivor van Beek has been definitely a METALLICA fan especially of the Black Album era since his vocals follow Hetfield's performance style. The lead guitars in New Die-hard Vampire spice things up by adding some Stoner atmosphere while the emotional mid tempo track Sleep is in some way of a soundtrack to a patient's torturing nightmares. Things get pretty heavy in the drum driven Breathe that features some melodic twin guitars riffs and a solid bass guitar sound.
There are several influences that pop out in every NON-DIVINE song giving them a sense of freshness where some can find as signs of originality. Mended Dol adds some low tuned ala SENTENCED rhythm guitars followed by the instrumental Love Loss that comprises some nice clean guitar arpeggios and very good solo near the end. The keyboards bring some more melody during Return To Zero where the spoken parts build the tension described in the lyrics. Next, is Visions that is groovy and heavy due to the nicely produced sound of the bass and the rhythm guitars. The album closer, Sympathy, implements tempo changes with melodic breaks where there are some nicely composed guitar solos.
Jacob Hansen has done a very good job in the production, creating a sound where all of the band's influences can be heard without being annoying as a copy-cat situation.
Overall, the album is very good taking into account that this is the band's debut album although it didn't succeed in building the proper atmosphere for the psychiatry clinic concept. I think we should keep our ears open for the next NON-DIVINE musical step.