OVERHEAD - METAEPITOME - 2005

Скандинавское прогрессивное нашествие продолжается. На сей раз молодой финский коллектив осчастливил меломанов вторым по счету альбомом. На диске шесть номеров. Открывающая композиция “Metaepitome” – 20-минутный эпик, без проблем вобравший в себя элементы классического арт-рока 1970-х, озрикоподобного спейс-фьюжн, фолк-рока и современного прогрессива. Остальной материал выдержан в схожем ключе. Не очень частые партии флейты, за которую отвечает вокалист Alex Keskitalo, сочный гитарный звук, клавишное разнообразие (меллотрон, гранд-пиано, классные органные пробежки в “Butterfly’s Cry”), добротная работа всех музыкантов. Из общего ряда выпадает замыкающая 16-минутная вещица под незамысловатым названием “Dawn”. Ровная, пространно-меланхоличная рок-медитация, приближает слушателя к территориям, застолбленным в свое время легендарными германцами Tangerine Dream. Несмотря на этот чужеродный «имплантант», слушается программа крайне свежо и весьма интересно. Так держать, Суоми.
http://soundvoyager.blogspot.com

I always find that, when a press release states that a band and album as ‘truly original’, its always best to take this with a pinch of salt. This is definitely the case with this, the second release from Finnish outfit Overhead. This isn’t to say that the band are totally unoriginal – they definitely have at least the makings of their own sound – but the influences from bands such as Pink Floyd, Genesis, Marillion, Rush et al are clearly audible throughout, and in a couple of cases pretty blatant.

The album kicks off with the nearly 20 minute title track, which is certainly one of the highlights of the album. The first part of the track has a very Floydian feel – a gentle balladic opening leads into a mellow symphonic section complete with some very Gilmour-esque guitar work from Jaakko Kettunen – think of the atmosphere created by Floyd on Meddle and you’ll be in the right ballpark. Alex Keskitalo’s vocals, whilst perhaps not overly strong, are able to handle a variety of musical styles, and reminded me a lot of ACT vocalist Herman Saming. The track changes dramatically at around the five minute mark where a bass rumble that seems to be almost directly lifted from Floyd’s The Happiest Days Of Our Lives heralds a decent up-tempo instrumental section that sees Overhead veering into the neoprog territory inhabited by the likes of IQ. From here the track branches into a variety of directions, including a slightly bluesy section (complete with Clapton-esque solo work from Kettunen) which, with its mixture of heavy riffs and Hammond organ could almost have come from a 70’s Deep Purple album, and a piano and vocal segment that recalls the torch-song balladeering on Marillion’s early albums with Fish. Although at times it seems like the band are chucking everything into the mix they can think of, this epic does hang together surprisingly well, with some recurring musical themes helping give a sense of unity. There’s also no denying the band’s winning way with a melody, and there’s a quirky feel to the material that’s quite attractive.

Other standouts are WARNING: Ending Without Warning which, with its mix of cod-reggae rhythms, a chantalong chorus and chunky riffs, veers very close to ACT territory, and Butterfly’s Cry, which makes you forgive its nonsensical title by dint of a combination of some winning melodic hooks which owe something to Neal Morse-era Spock’s Beard and some very funky grooves.

Unfortunately, Metaepitome has its fair share of weaker material – Point Of View is dominated by series of rather dull and unoriginal guitar solos, whilst the 16 minute Dawn goes practically nowhere very slowly – the complete antithesis of the over-ambitious but enjoyable title track. It’s not an auspicious way to end the album.

Musical performances are generally very good, although Kettunen’s solo’s, as I’ve pointed out, can be tedious at times. The production doesn’t always help bring out the best in the band – it’s rather flat, and too often the melodies (particularly when played on either flute or keyboard) are drowned out by the rhythm section.

Overall, this is an enjoyable effort that certainly indicates that Overhead are a band of some promise. Despite their labels claim, they need to work a bit harder on forging their own sound, as its still a bit of a rag bag of various influences at the moment, and some tracks could do with some judicious editing. This is still a fairly good album, however, and I'd be interested to here what they come up with next.
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