OVERTURES - Entering the Maze

So much music, so little time

How can you stay up to date with everything that comes out if you want to follow something else than the bands you keep following out of inertia, the ones that got you into metal in the first place and now, in most cases, put up increasingly embarrassing performances, making you want to branch out into other genres? How do you find something new and good among all the self-praising presentations: all albums are the best albums, all bands are the most talented bands. How do you find the one for you? Because surely among the tens of releases that come out each week there must be one that you would like, who knows, perhaps the best record you’ve ever heard. You start and listen to one song - usually the catchiest song of the album is available online - and keep listening until you get bored, depending on how much patience you have to swallow the same stuff spun every with more or less enthusiasm by more or less talented guys. Sometimes you find something that catches your ear, but when you listen to the whole album your excitement is quickly doused: it doesn’t rise to the level of the song that had been released online and not even close to their self-praising presentation. And then you give up, but can’t stop thinking that maybe the next album would be the album of the year and you didn’t have the patience to check.

And then you say, perhaps Metalfan could help, but, look, I have the same problem. Adding to that, we keep getting e-mails from some band’s manager (nowadays any band, no matter how small, has a manager, or otherwise they could even get their time in the sun) gently tugging on our sleeve: would you like to review our album? As time went by I’ve been finding it increasingly easier to just not answer many of them - my time is limited and I’ve learned to read between the lines of self-praise - but it sometimes happens after I listen to the online song, that I say: yes, we’ll do a review and download the album. And then I realize I was tricked, but it’s already too late, I said we’d do the review. There were cases when my expectations were confirmed and we stumbled upon super albums, but most of the times it’s the first case.

Now don’t get all excited, I’m not saying Entering the Maze is a super album; nor am I saying that it sucks; I’m writing this review 50% out of obligation and 50% out of conviction. In their defence, at least Overtures do not sing their own praises in their biography, which is already a good thing. After I saw the video for Savior I was enthusiastic, this is heavy metal with some flourishes, well put together, played with conviction, with a good sound and a likeable neoclassic chorus. I blame myself for letting my hopes rise too high for my age, but I can find the excuse that I’ve wanted to hear something interesting in this area for quite a while and I thought Overtures might be that something. But for now, it’s not.

Overtures is an Italian band, led by vocal Michele Guatoli, who wrote half of Entering the Maze, mixed the songs and drew the cover artwork. He left the mastering to Sascha Paeth (former guitarist in Heaven's Gate, has worked as producer/audio engineer with Angra, Edguy, Kamelot and others), so the record sounds very good. Michele’s colleagues are capable, good instrument players and sound convincing together. Their heavy metal is diverse, with some symphonic accents (especially Savior, Of Nightmares and The Oracle) and display riffs that often cross the border into thrash territory. So far, only good things about Overtures, can’t be bad, right? And, if you don’t want more from a band than to play, with determination and competence, some sort of generic metal that does not try your serenity too much, Overtures is an excellent band. It really doesn’t sound bad.

My problem is that there are already tons of bands doing the same thing, and the first that spring to mind are the Greeks of Firewind, the Frenchmen of Nightmare and the Germans of Mystic Prophecy. It is the same type of muscular melodic metal, impressing by determination but ultimately disappointing by the triviality of its song-writing. And Overtures fail to complete their efforts with unstoppable choruses, even though they try and sometimes give the impression that they have found the right idea. Most songs become interesting as they near the chorus, but then just fall back, with the notable exceptions of the hit track Savior and the closing song, The Oracle, which are the highlights of the album. Therefore, I can’t tell you that Entering the Maze is not to be missed, but it is not a total waste of time either. So I leave you as unenlightened as you were when we started this review. And I am in the same exact position.

Klawz Nota: 7.5