Aslan – Aslan

Aslan
Aslan
1986 (no label)
Ontario, Canada

Jeff Bersche – Vocals, harmonies
Jeff Miller – Guitars
Karl Nielson – Bass, keyboards
Jeff Johnson – Drums

1. Take Me
2. Digital Dream
3. Silent Scream

This was a surprise find. There are so many bands named Aslan and Narnia out there that I doubted if this particular one would ever turn up. So what is special about this Aslan? They had one pretty cool track (under the name of Narnia – they changed names after this demo) on the Cool Tunes compilation that Heaven’s Metal magazine put out (“Take Me”). The liner notes to that comp mentioned a 3 track demo, but it seems it never turned up anywhere. Well, now it has. The other songs still pretty much have that same hard rock sound of “Take Me” – keyboard-y enough that some wouldn’t see them as fully metal, but still a bit too heavy to be just rock. Also some progressive touches, like on the second track. Being a Canadian band, they seemed to have a good connection with Daniel Band, who they tank in the liner notes for their friendship. Oh, and Dan McCabe of Daniel Band provided background vocals on “Take Me.”