Overgarven - Promo 2005

*=Staff's pick	Bleeding World* Just A Fake Shattered Values …Rehenta Let Me Die*

Genre	Melodic Death Metal	Kostas	Vocals
Tracks	5	Nick	Guitar
Runningtime	22 Min.	Nikos	Guitar
Label		Peris	Bass
Release	Aug. 2005	Teo	Drums
Country	Greece	-	Keyboards
Similar artists	Iced Earth, Naglfar, Susperia

Overgarven hail from Greece and with their Promo 2005 they are hoping to find a label that can release their debut album. All songs on this promo are picked from their full-length album Just A Fake, and judging by the sound of these tracks, I surely hope that there is some label that has the good taste to release the full album later on. Overgarven formed in 2001 under the name Warfare but since that name was taken it was later changed. Along the way they have so far earlier released another demo simply entitled Promo 2003 and done some changes in the line-up.

The overall feeling I get from Overgarven is that the basis lies in dark aggressive heavy metal that considering the growls place them somewhat within the genre of melodic death metal. The ambience that surrounds all of the tracks is very much reminding of early Iced Earth, and there are also many similarities in the structures of the songs. With the first track Bleeding World the band show their capability of complex song-writing. The vocals that are shared between growls and a female voice give the song an interesting touch while it is driven forward by an pounding rhythm and melodic riffs. Just as on this track and as on the last one Let Me Die, there is an ambience similar to the album Burnt Offerings from Iced Earth, especially in the later one that starts slowly and as a duet with clean vocals from both the male and female voice. Let Me Die has a doom vibe in it with its slower tempo and the melancholic feeling while it floats forward with a guitar line that lightens the track up a little.

The other tracks are more forward and aggressive but yet with a melodic sense. Just A Fake has a galloping rhythm and with the leads it is not hard to let a thought leap towards the sound of early Iron Maiden. With the remaining songs, the structure and similarities with Iced Earth is still hard to put aside, although with the growls and the more aggressive approach the death metal in Overgarven is clearly obvious. I must say that I find the dark and melodic death metal from Overgarven interesting. They show a good balance with the aggressive parts and with the complexity in their songs it feels like there is some thought behind it all as well. The production tends to feel a bit low budget but the music that Promo 2005 contains feels to be of the opposite.

Production	Vocals	Compositions
4	5	8

Summary
7,5 chalices of 10 - Thomas