One Finger Salute

Overtake are one of the northernmost bands in Finland, hailing from Rovaniemi area. Surprisingly, when thinking where they come from, their style isn't some kind of pagan metal or black metal, but heavy metal mixed with thrash metal. 'One Finger Salute' is Overtake's sophomore release after 'Demo 2010'.

Overtake have taken their name from the song with the same name from dark thrashers Stone. There are some Stone stylings in Overtake's sound and dark atmosphere, but still they are very far from being copycats. The sunlight is pretty rare around those latitudes where Overtake come from, so the dark approach was expected. The band's thrash undeniably has a streetwise manner to it, while Rovaniemi ain't nothing like New York, hah. Streetwise like Overkill more than Pro-Pain. Two-part 'Unburied' is a melancholic piece with beautiful (yes, you read right; beautiful indeed!) melody work, and somehow it reminds me of Pantera's slower songs (e.g. 'Hollow', 'Cemetery Gates' and 'Floods'). Also The Haunted come to my mind at times when listening to this EP. By the way, while a big part of the music is thrash-influenced, the band stick to quite mid-paced tempos. Under two-minute long closer picks up some pace, after all.

The vocals are pretty unvarying hoarse yet powerful throaty shouting, sometimes reminding me of Entombed's L-G Petrov. Phil Anselmo style low spoken lyrics are a nice extra. Guitar work varies from heavy and sawing riffing to nice lead playing and non-distorted stuff, too. While the drums are played with heavy hands, they also contain a lot of groove. The bass pounds finely in the mix. About the mix: It is well balanced and all the nuances can be heard. To make it all sound live a was brilliant idea!

'One Finger Salute' does not sound similar to anything I can think of. That's one of the band's assets. The second one is their tightness. The songs aren't such, that they'd strike immediately, but this music needs some spinning to fully open up. It definitely is worth anyone's precious time, who likes heavier thrash and such. Nicely amalgamates Finnish and North American styles.

(originally written for ArchaicMetallurgy.com)