Progarchives, the progressive rock ultimate discography
Overhead - Haydenspark CD (album) cover

HAYDENSPARK

Overhead

Crossover Prog


From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

Bookmark and Share
4 stars "First review of this album"

"An exciting, dynamic and varied Heavy Prog album, but pretty overlooked"

The interesting and acclaimed Finnish formation Overhead has released five studio-albums, I am only famliar with their second effort entitled Metaepitome, from 2005. That one succeeded to generate a lot of excitement, and I noticed that Overhead did their best to create an own progressive sound. After my first Haydenspark listening session I conclude that this new album sounds harder-edged, and the keyboards are more on the background. The atmosphere on the nine compositions is very dynamic and energetic, with strong, good English vocals and often heavy guitar work (Steve Vai and Joe Satriani come to my mind). Also interesting are the lyrics about our endangered society and earth, and the fascinating artwork. My musical highlights.

A heavy and bombastic climate (like early Black Sabbath), metallish guitars, synthesizer flights and a thunderous rhythm-section in Last Generation.

A biting wah wah electric guitar and finally flamenco guitar runs ("wow", I say as an aficionado) in Count Your Blessings.

A captivating contrast between the sound of the flute traverse and heavy guitar in the exciting titletrack.

From dreamy vocals and tender acoustic guitar to blistering electric guitar in the alternating Across The nation.

Between Black Sabbath and Metallica with a lot of tension between the mellow and heavy parts, from classical keyboard orchestrations and acoustic guitar to sparkling flute and biting wah wah guitar, how exciting and varied!

And the wonderful ballad The Fall, first with fragile acoustic guitar runs and warm vocals, then more lush and dynamic with beautiful vocals and soaring keyboards.

Although the level on the compositions is very good, my absolute highlight is the final track Gone Too Far. In my opinion this one epitomizes how varied, dynamic, adventurous and, last but not least, progressive Overhead sounds! First a catchy rhythm with a sparkling flute traverse work (close to Ian Anderson), electronic inspired keyboards and heavy guitar riffs. Then a mid-tempo featuring powerful vocals and dynamic drums, followed by fat synthesizer flights. Halfway the sound turns into more heavy, the interplay between the flute traverse and heavy guitar evokes huge tension, fuelled by a propulsive rhythm-section.

Progressive rock in the true meaning of the word is alive, just listen to the new CD of this awesome Finnish prog band. These musicians have succeeded to blend elements from classic hardrock with a variety of other styles, loaded with surprising and adventurous musical ideas. I am looking forward to watch this exciting Heavy Prog band on stage!

The first edition of this review was recently published on Dutch progrock website Background Magazine.

Report this review (#2055106)
Posted Monday, November 12, 2018 | Review Permalink
Matti
PROG REVIEWER
3 stars Finnish prog band OVERHEAD was founded in 1999 and they are till going strong, which is an achievement in today's music business. In the beginning their sound was a bit more melodic and closer to Neo Prog, and there were some longer pieces on the first two albums Zumanthum (2002) and Metaepitome (2005) that I still tend to enjoy more than what has come ever since. As an anti-metal minded listener, I always feel rather frustrated when a prog band increases metallic flavour in their musical expression. That has happened with bands such as Arena and Overhead. But in the end one cannot say this band would have changed their style dramatically over the years, and at least hints of the harder edge have been there right from the start, for example in the vocals of Alex Keskitalo. In fact this new release shows that they're definitely still more about prog than [prog-]metal.

Whereas Overhead's other albums have been released via central European prog labels, this fifth album was released independently late last year. The other change concerns the line-up: keyboard player Tarmo Simonen has left the group (but he is involved on 'Last Generation' that he co-wrote with Keskitalo). Now the guitarist and the main composer Jaakko Kettunen plays most of the keyboards -- that still belong to the overall sound although in a more background role than guitar.

My first listening of Haydenspark was coloured by the forementioned frustration dealing with metal-ish nuances. I had to listen to their earlier albums to realize that the differences, especially in the singing style, weren't as huge as I had imagined. I must admit that this one began to sound better after I won my personal prejudices. If the preceding album Of Sun and Moon (2012) felt very cold -- I actually never really tried to get to know it well --, Haydenspark has a good chance to be a grower. The playing is energetic and the songs have more in them that meets the ear in the first round. The production by Jaakko Kettunen is very confident.

Tracks are mostly around 4-5 minutes long and they use the time pretty effectively. However, the two longer ones stick out as highlights. The 9-minute title track operates between bombastic and atmospheric, and the Keskitalo's flute brings nice connotations to Jethro Tull or Tabula Rasa's debut. 'The Fall' features just an acoustic guitar and soft keyboard layers at first to accompany Keskitalo's passionate vocals. This is a very strong sad song emotionally. The final piece 'Gone Too Far' is the other extended track and has bigger sonic similarities to Metaepitome. All in all, Haydenspark has a positive vibe that turns its harder edges into strengths (especially if you're not as allergic to metal as I am) instead of becoming too self-poignantly metallic.

Report this review (#2168835)
Posted Tuesday, March 26, 2019 | Review Permalink

OVERHEAD Haydenspark ratings only


chronological order | showing rating only

Post a review of OVERHEAD Haydenspark


You must be a forum member to post a review, please register here if you are not.

MEMBERS LOGIN ZONE

As a registered member (register here if not), you can post rating/reviews (& edit later), comments reviews and submit new albums.

You are not logged, please complete authentication before continuing (use forum credentials).

Forum user
Forum password

Copyright Prog Archives, All rights reserved. | Legal Notice | Privacy Policy | Advertise | RSS + syndications

Other sites in the MAC network: JazzMusicArchives.com — jazz music reviews and archives | MetalMusicArchives.com — metal music reviews and archives

Donate monthly and keep PA fast-loading and ad-free forever.