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Overoth > Death Personified > Reviews
Overoth - Death Personified

Brings Nothing New to the Table - 45%

MutantClannfear, September 19th, 2010

Well, I don't know what to say. I was looking for a new band to listen to, hit the "random band" button over dere yonder on yer left side of yer screen, and I ended up with a band called Overoth. I downloaded the torrent, listened to the band, and here I am now. Not really much to say.

Well, anyway, this is a pretty average blackened death metal record. This approximately 17-minute EP is a good effort by a new band. I'm not sure if this was the band's goal, but this whole release sounds like a classic death metal release, even though I'm almost entirely sure it's 2007. With the simplistic, repetitive riffs, along with the generic vocals, this is pretty much the epitome of a 90's death metal band. The vocals aren't particularly of notice in and of themselves (your everyday 90's Death-reminiscent growls), although quite often there will be a section of the music where the growls are layered with a black metal scream, and the end result is just fucking amazing. The only true complaint about the vocals is that they're too quiet; they're almost entirely filtered out by the instruments, particularly the guitars.

Speaking of the guitars, they're probably the best feature of this band. They come up with quite interesting riffs, even if the majority of them are basically small sweeps or typical 90's thrash. That's not to say there isn't variation; the song "Thanatos Rise" is a death/doom-styled song for the first 40 seconds, and all-around you'll find five- or ten-second riffs that sound like black metal. Although the solos are boring, that's what I think of metal solos in general, and so it's not a biggie. The drums are also cliché 90's death metal drums. He's certainly not doing anything groundbreaking here. Most of the time he's reduced to either a snare/bass pedal alternation or a blast beat. We've never seen any of those before...OH WATE...

Overall, this is basically a summarization of every death metal band ever released in the 90s mixed with black metal screams from time to time. I'm sure there's going to be a song for everyone; however, I think the song "Suffering Of The Detained" will appeal to the most people overall. Other than that song, you may as well just try to forget that this band exists. After all, there ARE, I don't know, maybe 10,000 90's death metal bands just like it?

Overoth - Death Personified - 89%

Aaron_McKeown, December 10th, 2007

This is my first review ever for this excellent website.


I first heard Overoth on the 'Intoxicated IV' compilation of Irish metal, a track from their first demo 'Pathway To Demise'. The production on the 'Death Personified' has improved immensely, as has their overall playing and songwriting skill.

Death Personified is a 6-track EP from yet another promising Death Metal act from Ireland (well, Northern Ireland). The EP opens with a short instrumental, which serves as an intro to the first proper track, 'Suffering The Detained'...and then the fun starts.

The closest I can come to describing Overoth's sound is a mix between old Malevolent Creation, Unleashed, and possibly a hint of Bolt Thrower in there somewhere. Although Overoth do not exactly break new ground musically, they more than make up for it in naked savagery. From the first few bars of 'Suffering Detained' to the closing fade-out of 'Lord of Desolation', it feels as though an invisible hand is grabbing my head and forcing it to bang like a maniac. This is Death Metal. Free of pompous over-technical riffs or jazz-influenced strange-time signature noodling, Overoth instead focus on fucking shit up with blastbeats and Thrashy beats aplenty, and even the odd breakdown for good measure.

In conjunction with the pummelling music, Bassist/Vocalist Andy Ennis lays down his fairly standard yet deep and powerful DM growls, which work very well with the old-school DM assault, and for some strange reason remind me of those of Michael O Sullivan, vocalist for Irish DM stalwarts Carnún Rising (not in a bad way).

Unfussy and crushing, yet interesting due to its KILLER riffs and lack of overly-long tracks, Death Personified is definitely worth acquiring if you are a Death Metal fan or simply want to hear the quality that the Irish Metal has to offer. Best €6 Ive spent in a long time.