Overtorture - At The End The Dead Await [2013]

Overtorture is another entree of the overly prodigious aping contest that is old school Swedish death metal that spawned more minions into the world in five years than any other sub-genre. Overtorture's debut ''At The End The Dead Await'' is, of course, nothing of a novel, but instead a steady, chainsaw-borne contraction of the fundamentals that were originally based by Grave, Entombed, Unleashed, etc, made robust by the experience behind the veteran band members, who had previously earned their spurs while dwelling in other, similar projects of death. With the heaving heft of the band members' seasoned acumen in place, Overtorture, fortunately brings about more swerving, cadaverous pleasure with the single impact of the album's meaty hammer than man of its peers, and through an undoubtedly luring, pendulous feast of generic riffs and huge bombards of fixated melody, they certainly deliver what they ought to deliver.

Another thing that makes this album the derivative source of entertainment it is, is wider spectrum of influences that help garnish the momentum. Sure, there isn't really a heap of interpretations you can pensively opt from, but they've still got a more extensive catalog than most other acts in this field; some Autopsy for the unforgiving, ghastly reek that the riffs let out as they're ushered into slower tempos, a dose of combustive Floridian death, giving the meaty slab of he guitar an even more corpulent, tremolo-faceted impulse, and some Bolt Thrower that acts pretty much the same way the Autopsy influences do. The group is also fairly agile, keeping things fluent with busier riffs that are highly reminiscent of Floridian tech death/thrash assaults or Dutch madness, all strewn upon a graveyard of corpses and ominous undertones, glittering morbidly as the band unleashes undercurrents of bombastic chainsaw action.

The melody department may not be the most invigorating of elements, but when thrown into a vortex of cavernous bludgeons, it certainly stands out with quivering, tremulous contrast. Even the vocals, in their chubby resonance, sound genuinely horrendous enough to keep up with the blasting of riffs, with a thick growl and presence that's strong enough to wake the dead. As I explained, Overtorture's musical eminence comes not from their matrix of ripping crunches, but their versatility in constructing relatively busier entanglements, which all sink down into a morbidly edgy murk, quite compelling when we take into account that the band's real goal is only to tear things (particularly necks) down here. So in all, it was a brazen contrast that made ''At The End The Dead Await'' that made this good, and yes, it was hardly a work of shrewd excellence, but still probably more pummeling and radioactive than many others who venture the same path as these Swedes.  A competent enmeshing of belligerence and melody - a far more pleasant surprise than the cheesy cover art.

Highlights:
Suffer As One
Black Clouds Of Dementia
The Strain

Rating: 78%