Review: Overoth “The Forgotten Tome”

Overoth “The Forgotten Tome”
Hostile Media

The metal scene in Ireland is poker hot at present and among the leading lights is certainly Overoth, whose second album has just been released courtesy of Hostile Media.

It’s been a five-year wait for the Belfast crew to bring this album to fruition but the years have not been wasted, as the overall sound reflects the natural progress made since their debut full length Kingdom of Shadows.

The Forgotten Tome has a suspense building orchestral intro which eventually bleeds into ‘Sigil of the Empty Throne’ before a deathly growl sheds light on the true colour of Overoth – black of course. What follows is a seismic aural assault but one superbly measured, carrying just the right level of controlled aggression. Amidst the raw edge there’s a well-developed groove gasping for air and some scissored guitar work add a further welcome dimension to help get The Forgotten Tome off to a commanding start.

‘Winter of Iniquity’ is another frostbitten steamroller with the blastbeats descending from the heavens like meteors, while further barbed wire riffage ensures hostility levels remain racketed up to the max. Vocals are raw, assured and commanding.

Overoth won plenty of admirers at Bloodstock last year and have clearly been busy in perfecting their sound since. The sound is big and confident, some great hooks opening things up a treat at the start of the menacing slowburner ‘The Keeper’.

‘God of Delusion’ is one of the shorter tracks but is full of power and purpose as Overoth up the tempo, maintain a steady percussive throb harder than granite. The incendiary title track follows complete with searing solos complex enough to tie your boots laces in knots supported by some growls impregnated with the stench of death.

Cistercian choral chants bring a few brief moments of solace and introspection to proceedings on the predominantly instrumental interlude ‘Leviathan Swallowed the Sun’. Penultimate number ‘Harbinger of the End Times’ makes a thunderous entrance and some spiky guitar action adds further heat as Overoth roll out another death metal carpet of destruction.

Album closer ‘Shadows in a Thousand Shades of Black’ stretches Overoth to the limits as boundaries are pushed back to seven minutes allowing the Belfast brutalists to really work the sonic canvas, stretching out to the corners with a sound embellished by a few fleeting operatic cries. Momentum is successfully sustained with some fevered solos emphatically punctuating the relentless march to the edge of the precipice.

Next month Overoth support Rotting Christ in Dublin and in this mood will be more than capable of holding their own alongside the veteran Greek giants.