OVERHEAD

I'm disappointed with this one. Zumanthum had at least one terrific track, 'From Beginning to End' (or something like that), which also was the longest track (20 minutes), plus one quite nice instrumental piece. The majority of Zumanthum either wasn't very much up to my taste but still it pleased me clearly more. Not that their style would have changed much. Energetic, dramatic Neo-Prog played very skillfully, and some flute here and there which I like.

But this time the vocals seem to be a bigger problem for me. Now they make me think of some hard-rock band of the eighties wearing black tight leather trousers and having that 80's hairstyle... Maybe also the playing is a bit edgier, harder, this time. Several tracks start promisingly (for example the acoustic guitar intro on one song is good) but at some point they take a turn I don't enjoy at all. So actually the only track I enjoyed completely was the brief calm instrumental 'The Sun', even though there are other enjoyable moments - they're just marred by the later parts of the same tracks. Sorry guys but no more than two stars from me, despite of good playing and clean production.

If you like bands such as DREAM THEATER, which I believe is one of their influences among Pink Floyd or Genesis, check out this Finnish group (of relative young musicians? - so they seem from their looks at least).

Overlooked Overhead

Finnish progsters Overhead formed in the late 1990s releasing their first album in 2002. They were one of the first bands to make an entire album available for free download, a move which served to introduce many more people to their refined brand of progressive rock.

"Live after all" is their first live DVD release, the disc capturing them playing live in Katowice, Poland in February 2009. The set list is largely drawn from the band's second and third albums, the encore song being a cover of King Crimson's "21st Century schizoid man". Production of the DVD was carried out by Metal Mind Productions, who have through the release of many fine DVDs developed an approach to such recordings which sets the current standard in such releases. Each DVD is filmed with astonishing attention to detail, the results being of the highest calibre in terms of both sight and sound. Overhead benefit enormously from the experience Metal Mind have gathered over the last few years, this set offering the perfect introduction to their music. In addition to the concert itself, we have the by now obligatory bonus videos, interview, discography and biography, of which more later.

The main concert video runs to just over 90 minutes, incorporating 9 well developed songs. We open with the title track from the fine "Metaepitome" album, a 19+ minute epic which builds through diverse moods and occasional spoken word. Alex Keskitalo's flute adds a folk dimension but the overall feel of the piece is very much that of a classic prog suite. At times there is an urgency to the music, elsewhere it becomes relaxed, almost mellow. The superb "Dawn" blends these qualities best, the instrumental passages here being especially appealing.

For the encore, the band let their hair down, and have some fun with King Crimson's "21st Century schizoid man". The rendition is faithful to the original at first, save for some theatrical growls by Alex Keskitalo, but features an alternative lead guitar solo by Jaakko Kettunen and a synth solo by Tarmo Simonen.

On stage, Keskitalo has an enigmatic style of interacting with the audience. In the interview which is included as a DVD extra, he proves that he has a sense of humour and a vivid imagination as he takes us through the history of the band and their albums. As he talks about the last album going "deep", and the next one going "wide", you have to wonder if he is having a Spinal Tap moment, or simply taking the P out of the interviewer!

Also included is an Old Grey Whistle Test like video for "Butterfly's cry" plus a number of live videos from various gigs. While these clips are of passing interest, particularly as some feature a beardless Keskitalo (who says if his beard goes again it means he has gone mad!), they mainly serve to emphasise the sound quality of the main event.

In all, a fine first DVD by Overhead which offers an excellent introduction to this overlooked band.

The sleeve image of Alex Keskitalo playing flute may be considered a little misleading, as it bears more than a passing resemblance to the iconic images of Ian Anderson in similar pose with Jethro Tull.

I quite liked their debut album (''Zumanthum'', released in 2001): a superb epic and great musical moments could be enjoyed all the way through.

I wouldn't be as laudatory about this work, but there is no real harm done either with this third opus. Only that great songs are somewhat absent here. This album is quite wordy and probably lacks in some profound and structured instrumental sections.

Let's consider this as good background music which won't hurt your senses. But they won't kick your ass or sublimate your ears either. A typical ''incognito'' work, some sort of chameleon that here and there attempts to attract your attention (''Time Can Say'' ) with success.

Another good track is the elaborate ''Ost Inside''. It presents some metal lines and a harder vocal style but it shows some fine instrumental parts as well (which aren't that many on this work). Even pastoral fluting can be experienced! It is the more diverse song so far and my highlight.

The last two songs from ''And We're Not Here?'' are quite different from one another: some sort of heavy dance beat music (''Entropy'') and quite a good neo or even symphonic mini-epic (''Captain''). No need to tell you that the latter has my preference.

A good album after all: three stars.

Their first album ''Zumanthum'' was quite a good surprise for me and I was very enthusiastic to listen to their second effort.

This album is a more easy listening music, but by no means it should be regarded as a weak album. As usual, the band is playing quite long songs but it is true to say that I couldn't find the grandeur of ''Beginning To End'' from their debut. But this was a damned good epic!

In terms of epic, we have two of that kind in this follow-up work.

The title track takes while to kick off but it is quite melodic and the heavy organ featured in the second leg of this song is quite enjoyable. I'm quite confused though, when I read that this should be a rip-off from the great ''Child In Time (which WAS a rip off from the Californian band ''It's A Beautiful Day'' and ''Bombay Calling'' was the track). Still, I do share the feeling with Hughes that this piece of music has a whole damned lot to do with the neo- prog genre. But on the good side, I would say.

The following track opens on a brilliant instrumental part: a wild Tull should I say. Heavy beats and a remarkable flute part: gorgeous to tell you the truth. What follows might not be on par but this intro is a killer. Unfortunately, there will be only almost heavy metal noises afterwards (oooops sorry, this is called progressive metal now ?).

Things are getting a lot better with ''Point Of View'' which shines thanks to its sublime guitar solo. This passage is a definite highlight . The neo-prog feel is even more obvious during the intro for ''Butterfly's Cy'' (hi Tony)?

I am pretty sure that if the band had not released their very good ''Zumanthum'', it would have been easily categorized into the neo-prog style. The second (average) epic confirms this feeling IMO. It sounds as déjà vu and offers little astonishing moments.

''Metaepitome'' is not on par with ''Zumanthum'', that's a given. But it still remains a good album which I rate with three stars.

Here we have the third album from Overhead, A Finnish prog outfit that while new to me, has been playing about for quite some time now. Overhead has graced us with a powerful, vocal driven beauty of an album in "And we re not here after all" . A very carefully produced and engineered work worthy of a front row seat alongside many of the now popular and unfortunately somewhat formulaic new guard of progressive rock bands that have followed in the wake of No-Man, Porcupine Tree, and to a lesser degree, Coheed & Cambria.

This is a good album that draws some unavoidable comparisons to other good albums. There have been so many of them lately. A pleasant listen, a spellbinding journey, a brilliant vocalist, keyboardist, guitarist and drummer. How can you go wrong? And of course Overhead does not go wrong here.

If you like your prog sensibly arranged on your plate precisely at suppertime then this album is going to shuffle in your top 10 for sure. But if you are somewhat of a risk taker or have a penchant for the offbeat, artsy and avant-garde then "And we re not here after all" may not get your blood pumping much. My overall feeling is that this record was produced and engineered with an almost clinical precision that left little room for experimentation and/or musical hi-jinks or self-expression.

Putting my personal musical preferences on the backburner for a moment I must say that Overhead's vocalist Alex Keskitalo is probably one of the best singers I ve ever heard and I would hope to hear more from him in the future The arrangements are often beautiful and quite dramatic, and the lyrics are outstanding. All of the musicianship is precise, talented, spot on. My favorite tracks were the 12 minute Lost Inside and To the madness a song which I assume to be pt II of "A method".

"And we re not here after all"... A dramatic, pretty, and relaxing album, unfortunately quite void of quirks, surprises, or inroads.

This is another very confidential Nordic band who released quite a good effort at the turn of the century.

The first couple of minutes of their epic opener are absolutely gorgeous, but as Bob also mentions, the weak part are the vocals. But it is not the first time than some Scandinavian bands fail to provide great vocalists.

Still, this ''Beginning To End'' is a solid prog epic, with some truly rocking passages which provides a lot of dynamics. This song will satisfy almost any old freak as I am: great guitar, brilliant keys and a strong rhythmic section. With a definite appeal to melody. What else do we need?

This song is highly instrumental (thanks a bunch for this) and conveys a great feel throughout its length (over 20 minutes). It is of course THE highlight of this album, the other songs having problems to fight with such a great opponent. A huge number indeed.

It would be unfair though to limit this album to the only epic. The almost instrumental (again) ''Asleep'' gets its full credits as well. Even if the sound is weirder and heavier, it has its own merit. There are some complex interplay and the whole is not easily accessible; but once you got it, you got it.

Most of the songs from this album are on the long side and ''Confession'' sounds very much as a neo-prog song to say the least. The barrier between cross-over and neo being very adaptable for ''Overhead''. Even vocals are quite alright here! Not talking about the backing band of course. Just sumptuous.

The shortest track is also the most Floydean of the whole. Spacey keyboards, melodic guitar and a great feel indeed. A fine hors d'oeuvre to introduce the long and closing number: ''Zumanthum''.

The problem being that this song is the weakest of this album; very much neo-prog oriented (which is not the problem). Vocals are again disgraceful and the inspiration is quite absent. Only the "finale" is worth.

This album is a very good debut one. Four stars (upgraded from seven out of ten due to the closing number).

A relatively new band,OVERHEAD were found in Helsinki by four students,before expanding to a quintet and record a self-produced album,called ''The snowman album''.Unfortunately this effort didn't receive much attention,so the band worked on new material,which meant to be their next effort ''Zumanthum'' in 2002.OVERHEAD teach the way of how a modern prog band can sound like,without ''forgetting'' their style's roots.''Zumanthum'' is a great conmpilation of inspired soundscapes and influences.First band that comes to mind are 70's KING CRIMSON,due to some complicated guitar passages and a few extreme bass lines.Then it's the heavy use of piano for creating nice interplays in a complex way,reminding a bit of E.L.P.,and afterwards come some rather heavy guitar parts in the vein of DREAM THEATER.Synths are used often to create spacey atmospheres,not unlike PINK FLOYD,while the vocals are quite harsh,resembling more to alternative rock bands that progressive ones.The whole result is absolutely satisfying,a great release with nice instrumental parts,intense moods and changing tempos.OVERHEAD are a band built for progressive rock's present and future.

Overhead's second album Metaepitome came without warning and knocked me out when I discovered it in late 2006. It put three thoughts in my head: How can a band this good operate in my hometown without me being aware? I want to see them live as soon as possible! What kind of a killer album are they going to follow this with? The two questions seemed to get some sort of an answer when I finally managed to catch their live show. Apparently not many people in my hometown were aware of this great band since the venue was pretty empty. And to answer the second question they played mostly new unreleased material along with a song or two from their two first albums. Sloppyish performances of half finished songs with stream of consciousness lyrics. Boring middle-of-the-road rock I judged with my dreams of a killer follower crushed. The story continues with them playing a couple of the same new songs on a handful of gigs I saw along the way, and me warming up a little to their potential. Quite good stuff, I said to myself, but still the low points of any gig they did. Then one night they premiered a new song called A Method...to the Madness. Or Brush...Kebab as the working titles were on the setlist. I liked it. After the show I cornered the guitarist Jaakko and expressed my concern that my expectations towards the new album were quite low despite the good song they just played. He turned away, wrote something on a piece of paper and handed it to me saying the unmastered album is at this site, go and have a listen. So I did.

I listened first to the unmastered album and then the mastered version for months until the release date in September when it had slowly made its way to the top of my Best of the Year lists. I remember the first time I put it on while leaving to work, and from the lullaby-like keyboard opening of A Method through the frantic bass grooves driving ...to the Madness onwards and all the way to the final fading sounds of A Captain on the Shore I was tapping my feet along in pleasantly surprised agreement. Over time that agreement evolved into excitement and ultimately pure love after it dawned to me that they had against my expectations really surpassed themselves. I still love Metaepitome worth the five stars I awarded it, but this album feels even more focused, cohesive, colourful and emotionally deep.

The album deals with the story of a person who with no apparent reason feels no joy of life, and that feeling escalates into a complete sense of isolation and lack of faith in life at all. At the worst point he realizes he still has himself to depend on and finds if not a will, at least a consent to go on until he finally gets a hold of life again. Despite the short instrumental The Sun acts as a bridge between the two sides of the album, the real turning point story-wise and musically is Lost Inside and especially the part where the storm dies down and the delicate section featuring a stunning combination of flute and acoustic guitar appears from the rubble. After deciding that life is worth trying they emphasize it with their most straightforward and rocking song ever. On first listens Entropy felt a bit out of place with its synth-heavy soft metal sounds, but over time it has truly found its place, not least because of its brilliant instrumental section containing a particularly radiant guitar solo by Jaakko Kettunen. At times I think it's my favourite part of the album, but then I remember Lost Inside, Time Can Stay and a Method to the Madness which are all totally top notch pieces of work. A Captain on the Shore in its power balladish form is a very good ending to the album and an enjoyable song in every respect, but still seems to fall a little bit short when comparing to the rest of the album. There's their chance of making the next album even better.

After closely listening to their debut Zumanthum a couple of days ago and now a few spins of this one, the thing that strikes me most along with their much improved songwriting, sound and overall performance as a unit is the colossal steps Alex Keskitalo has taken as a vocalist. There are some brilliant performances on his part especially in Time Can Stay and Lost Inside. There are still tiny bits in the first of the aforementioned tracks and Entropy that could benefit from some extra power, but I have no doubt that he will keep building his voice still as he has done to this day. There is a part of me thinking that this is as brilliant an album as they ever can make, but there's always a chance for it. They did surpass themselves this time, so why not the next. I've spinned the album twice while writing this, I think I'll give it one more listen while leaving to work in a minute.

2.75 stars

Beginning to End: A drum intro with heavy bass joining in with a fine guitar melody on top. The rhythm section then picks up the tempo and Jaakko Kettunen introduces the song's main melody, a very tasty piece of work. After a long intro they settle down to invite in Alex Keskitalo's voice, which unfortunately is a bit bland. The song has a strong atmosphere but at six minutes you begin to expect a change of pace which you eventually get after a nice keyboard solo. Unfortunately the mood shift is the first weak spot of the album: a really clumsy transition to a very dreamtheaterish heavy snare/metal guitar break which then launches into a section exposing the young bands other weakness: the lack of power in Alex Keskitalo's voice.

The first ten minutes of the first song tell the whole story of this album: tight rhythm section, skillful guitar, atmospheric keyboards, good or even great melodies here and there, but too many unnatural transitions and a singing voice lacking power and self-assurance.

Asleep pt. 2 - Awake: A decent song with nice melodies and some bright flute moments, but the voice is still a problem along with the clumsy transition around three and a half minutes. The song contains some tasty guitar soloing towards the end though.

Congessions of the Grim Reaper: A great riff starts the song, which as a whole is musically the most enjoyable of the bunch along with the title track, although vocally probably the weakest, mainly during the choruses. Again a guitar solo bordering on wonderful and a pretty smooth tempo shift towards the end to a faster jam, but again the powerless vocals do their harm.

Wasteland: An atmospheric synth instrumental with a soaring guitar and a surprisingly well fitting programmed drumbeat. It kind of reminds me of some Nobuo Uematsu work for the Final Fantasy game series. And that's a compliment.

Zumanthum: A picked guitar with piano and some of the best singing on the record open the title track. Going through a very good pair of verses and choruses the song calms down to an instrumental section beginning a little like their next album masterpiece Dawn and seamlessly leading to a vocalized mid-section with some beautiful flute flourishes. Again a relatively smooth transition to a heavier part and again into the final section of the song starting with a lone piano and ending with a beautiful two-minute instrumental section eventually running into a wall. Not the most satisfying way possible to end this album.

The band shows that they have a sense for strong melodies but the songs lack the cohesiveness they would bring to their epics later on. With a new drummer the rhythm section would get some welcome fluidness and Alex continues to develop his confidence in his voice to this day. Promising debut with bright moments, but clearly the weakest of their catalogue. Apparently the band has today a shame plaque at their training facility containing the cd and booklet of Zumanthum and the member arriving late to practise sessions gets to stare at it. It's not that bad an album at all but still easily their weakest.

A real nice creation from this Finnish band, who seems to have hit on a good musical track to explore further on this release. Especially the opening one-two punch of A Method... toThe Madness is effective, with a lush, mellow opening that explodes in intensity for the last minute, and continuing over in an intense tune with a driving bassline and a majestic chorus segment, breaking to a totally different mood at the 5 minute mark, eventually finishing with a grandiose version of the chorus again.

The rest of the compositions isn't as strong overall though; although most share a very similar characteristic: They start off as mellow but complex songs with lots of details and generally compelling atmospheres, and then evolve towards harder and more energetic segments. In all instances I found the opening segments of these to be far more interesting than the end product. When that is said none of those tunes are really weak; with the only letdowns for me personally mood piece The Sun and the more synthified atmospheres of Entropy.

In sound this act sounds pretty similar to Sylvan. Mostly due to the vocals; which share many similarities in tone, timbre and delivery, but also the way the songs are arranged and structured is quite alike. The main difference between the bands are Overhead's use of vintage sounding instruments; using flute and organ where Sylvan would have chosen synthesizers.

With this said, an obvious conclusion is that fans of Sylvan should check this out; and fans of Neo-prog with leanings towards vintage art rock may also find this production compelling.