OVERHEAD: And We're Not Here After All (PROGRESSIVE ROCK): review / opinion to read on Music Waves

Overhead became famous in concert after a second album ("Metaepitome") which is now considered as a must, but which didn't convince the public that much. The stage revealed this crazy strength that was not fully apparent in the studio recordings of this young Finnish band. This new album was thus impatiently awaited by the crowd of fans wondering if Overhead would propose a kind of "Metaepitome - The return"...

What stands out from the first seconds of listening is the quality production which was missing from its predecessor. 'A Method' opens the opus with some soft notes like tinkling bells bringing the vocals of Alex Keskitalo... We are on familiar ground, "Metaepitome" is not so far. Jaakko Kettunen makes his guitar roar and the fury rises: raging vocals and aggressive riffs. Rhythmized by a hypnotic bass, the second track '... To The Madness' deserves its name with its successions of powerful passages alternating with lulls do not leave us any respite until the sarcastic laughter which marks the end of this second track.

With 'Time Can Stay' the tempo is slower. This third title is a ballad with a strongly hammered rhythmic with, as a climax a little before the fourth minute, a kind of cascade of piano and keyboards resting on the back and forth of toms. 'Lost Inside' picks up where 'Time Can Stay' left off. Slow rhythm but very assertive with an increase in power halfway through. There is everything (or almost) Overhead in this track: Alex's flayed voice and flute, Janne and Ville's relentless rhythmic and Tarmo's superb keyboard flights. The only surprising thing is that until the sixth track (Entropy), Jaakko doesn't make any solo as he did on "Metaepitome".

It is with a very symphonic 'A Captain On The Shore' that Overhead will conclude this new opus. The last three minutes of this track, which counts almost 10 minutes, are built around a chorus which will go decrescendo to finish only with a female voice vocalizing on some piano notes... The calm after the storm.

This third album gained in technical quality what it may have lost in spontaneity, but I have no doubt that these perfectly chiseled tracks will find another and crazier dimension in contact with the stage. Overhead is a great band that knew how to create a sound and a style of its own and to which a lot of rock fans should definitely be addicted! - Official website

OVERHEAD

AND WE'RE NOT HERE AFTER ALL

MUSEA

PROGRESSIVE ROCK