Overtaker, true to its name, sports an aggressively overpowering sound. From the first second to the last, it uses unpredictable slithering riffs and intensity to create a chaos that is sure to repel a lot of people, whether they’re used to intense thrash albums or not. As I have no experience of listening to Hammers of Misfortune nor their side project VHOL, I can only guess at what the reaction of the respective band’s fans will be. I have heard that this is a big shake up in sound and pulls Hammers‘ sound closer to that of VHOL. What it makes me think of instead is what it would sound like if Voivod tried to make a later era Sabbath Assembly album: intense thrash using dissonant and odd leads meet a foreboding sense of doom. This comparison makes sense to me as Sabbath Assmebly‘s vocalist Jamie Myers provides the vocals. There was always an undertone of danger in Myers‘ performance with her previous band but on Overtaker she makes this overt, to great effect. From the end of words being drawn out into half growls (“Overtaker”) to the drawn out wails (“Vipers Cross”, “Don’t Follow the Lights”) to calm-during-the-storm moments (“Outside Our Minds”) – she always sounds in control of the chaos around her. Myers‘ vocals are the fulcrum upon which the album’s balance rests. I get the feeling that an album this busy would not work without the contrast her voice brings to the table.
Not to be outdone, the drums and bass work in lockstep to keep the intensity intact at all times and the lead guitar most often thrashes around like a rabid dog with neoclassical riffs but never forgets to throw out a reprieve of melody and classic thrash leads now and then. At times it sounds like a 70s prog rock band fighting to be heard next to a thrash metal band playing beside them (“Dark Brennius” is a good example of this). The mix seems to deliberately embrace the chaos and therein lies my only nitpick. The album is so intense that a slightly more dynamic production could have softened the blow a bit. My attention can wander in this succinct 43 minute album. This is not because it drags, however, and I go back and forth on whether changing it would diminish its character. Nevertheless, there’s enough ideas and creativity here to keep me spinning it over and over. In a year where I have been less than impressed with the metal genre’s output at large, Overtaker towers over the competition with an evil grin, ready to sink its fangs deep. And oh, how it does.
