Live show from Finnish prog-rockers

Seen my reviews of the DVD output from Metal Mind in previous issues of Fireworks? Then you’ll know the format. Live show filmed in a lovely theatre with excellent lighting, high quality camera work and superb sound; this one is no exception aside perhaps from the Director being rather quick with his cuts between shots, which does get a bit annoying.

I’ve not crossed paths with Overhead before and it turns out they hail from Finland and have released three studio albums (‘Zumanthum’ in 2002, ‘Metaepitome’ in 2005 and last year’s ‘And Were Not Here After All’) with the set represented here being predominantly taken from the latter two.

In true Prog style the tracks tend towards the epic in length and it’s pretty daring to open your show with a track that clocks in close to 20 minutes long. Its sedate start lulls you into a false position as the tension builds and the tempo increases. The presence of flute gives the sound a different touch, which I like (always been a sucker for the flute). Unfortunately, while Alex Keskitalo’s flute playing is a delight his vocals can sometimes let the side down, particularly on the early tracks. The band introduces a heavy riff in the middle of the opening track before taking the pace right down with just a plaintive piano and the vocal.

Jakko Kettunen is a very fine guitarist, being equally adept at the delicate end of the scale right through to Metal riffs, whilst drummer, Ville Sjöblom does an amazing job on a very small kit. I love what he does on ‘….To The Madness’.

A cover of King Crimson’s ‘21st Century Schizoid Man’ seems unnecessary when a band has three albums worth of their own material, but I suppose they may have wanted to go out with something everyone knew.

The extras are probably better than most from this Metal Mind series as they include bootleg footage of the band at various festivals, and don’t double up with what has gone before, plus the usual interview, photo gallery etc.

I’m not sure Overhead will have rise to fame on the back of this release but they’ll probably gain some new fans from within the Prog fraternity.

Gary Marshall