• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5

US Black Metal that is not of the Xasthur style sounds good to you? Maybe so, but don't be blind fully sure about it though! This American duo consists of Nathan Nickels (guitars and bass) and Toby Nickels on drums, vocals and keyboards.

The moment I started playing this CD, I felt something annoying and disturbing about it. Being a Black Metal fan, and feeling like this while listening to a Black Metal release, then something must not be right. After more careful spinning, I was able to dissect the album more properly. Declaration of Secession shows that Overthrone posses good songwriting abilities. The music has varied tempos and emotional levels. The musicianship is not to be blamed , since both can play very well. Not too much blast beats are heard, a good point .They even use some pleasant acoustic/classical guitars, especially tasty in the opening and closing track. The compositions contain crunchy riffs, tremolo picking, leads, keyboards, raspy vocals, growls and even epic chants. Then, what's wrong with this release? Two things principally. One of them, and I think it's perhaps where I'm getting the most annoyed, is the lead guitar. Its sound is not only loud and too upfront, but it has a disturbing ear piercing tonality. This is even more true when he plays on the E and B strings, maybe down to the G one as well. This type of thing appears on every song, unfortunately. Second, the vocals. The growls and chants are great but the thrashy/screamed rasps have never worked for me. Rasps are made to be more subdued and subtle, and sound way better, as opposed to the very forced and screamed type.

If you can make abstraction of those two irritating elements, then you have a pretty good Black Metal release. Not outstanding by any means, but kind of interesting. "Closer to Zero" and the title tracks are my favorite compositions.