Overtorture
At The End The Dead Await

February 2013
Released: 2013, Apostasy Records
Rating: 4.5/5
Reviewer: Metal-Rules.com UK Team

Overtorture is a surprisingly new band, forming in just 2011. When you listen to their first full- length album, ‘At the end the Dead Awaits’, you feel as though you’re listening to a band who have not just played as separate entities in other reputable bands (which they have, the young drummer having been in a couple of excellent bands to say the least) but sound as though they have jammed together for many years.



To seal a worldwide deal with Apostasy Records just months after recruiting their second guitarist and produce such an excellent sounding album is mind blowing. At just over 40 minutes, however, the album is over far too soon. I am quite saddened to know that this is the only album they have so far, but nonetheless they have gained a new fan in me and I cannot wait to see this Swedish Quintet playing live in the UK some day soon.



Throughout the album, Overtorture manage to get the perfect concoction of slightly eerie, harmonised and melodic guitar riffs, innovative drum riffs with the most beautiful relationship between the two- if the drums are particularly dynamic, the guitars and vocals lay off, and vice versa- and ear crunching vocals and face melting blast beats. A lot of the time, the band sound like big fans of Mr Akerfeldt’s side project, Bloodbath, but they are in many ways better. At best, they sound gloriously heavy, melodic, complex (but not in a show- off way), creative, unique, technical and expertly tight, and at worst- like a Bloodbath Tribute band; which is certainly not a bad thing, in my books.



Stand out tracks include Murder for the Masses, which showcases how perfectly in tune with each other they are, The Outer Limits, which makes me want to see them live and features some excellent little cymbal ditties, Targets, which is what the band certainly prove themselves to be for this year- a sure fire ‘Target’ on any Death Metallers gig/ album list, The strain, with its potential to sound quite dull as it is very sludgy and dreary, but where the guitarist has selected a perfect tone and creates the most innovative riffs, with beautiful harmonising complimenting the well selected, albeit unusual, notes that make up the riffs, the song is salvaged. At just under three minutes, however, it is too brief a moment, but then again we can’t have too much of a good thing. The Coming doom and At the end the Dead Await are also two fantastic tracks, perfectly proving what fantastic musicians this collection of hairy men really are.



New favourite band for this year; I’m so pleased I had the honour of being able to review this album. Honest! I’d give it a perfect score but the only thing that lets the side down in terms of this fantastic collection of tracks is the first track, Black Shrouds of Dementia; Generally speaking, the first track should always be the strongest, but this slightly dull and repetitive song does not make a good first impression and Overtorture certainly should have reconsidered having this at the very beginning. Having said that, I really have enjoyed listening to this great debut album.



Review by Soozi Q