Overoth evolved with little more darkness



Hello Dan, how you doing? First off, introduce yourself and ofcourse your band.
Hi Connor. I'm grand thank you and how are you? Well I'm Dan and I play guitar for Overoth. We play oldschool death metal, we're based in Belfast and we've been together nearly 5 years now.

You guys are out promoting your debut album, "Kingdom Of Shadows", hows that going for you?
Very well thanks, we released the album in February of this year and we are really happy with the response so far. We recieved a number of offers from some small labels but in the end decided to release the album ourselves so that our hands were not tied in the event of a bigger label showing interest in the future.
We hit the road pretty much straight after the release, covering Ireland and parts of Europe, everywhere we've been we've had great response which is very pleasing. We've got more touring plans later this year with a UK/Ireland Tour in September/October with Bloodshot Dawn and were finalising some more shows in Europe as we speak so watch out for that.

There's a very old school vibe off the album, would it be safe to assume that this is all you listen to and utilise for influence for your music?
No, we all listen to a diverse range of music, but yeah were all big old school death metal fans, Morbid Angel, Vader, Immolation, etc but we never decided that we'd just play old school death metal. It just so happened to be what we wrote so its obvious this particular style has influenced us over others. It is also what we enjoy playing the most.

The artwork is an interesting piece, who was it done by and whats the concept of it?
A friend of ours Geoff Blair we met through 'Putrefy' done the art for us, he also did the art on our last release 'Death Personified'. The concept is based around the theme of the songs. We asked Geoff to include as many references to the actual songs and lyrical content on the album as he could. The album is called 'Kingdom Of Shadows' and I think his interpretation of our vision couldnt have been closer to the atmosphere we were wanting to portray.

Now since your demo days till now you have already experienced a lineup change by means of Jay replacing Gary who recorded the drums on the album, how did this come to be?
It was a difficult decision but in the end what Gary wanted to do and what the rest of the band wanted were slightly different. It was an unfortunate loss but at the same time I think we are now stronger than ever. Jay has brought a lot to the band, a fresh view and new ideas. Gary has also started a new band called 'Zombified' who are fuckin great so we wish him all the best with that.

Has your newest addition, Jay, contributed to newer writings? has the newer songs being written, evolved from previous?
Yeah. Andrew and I have always wrote the music and brought the songs to the practise room but as Jay is also a guitar player, he can contribute to guitar aspects of the writing process as well as putting in his part in with the drums. This combined effort has produced some very interesting results. So yeah we are writing at the moment, we took the summer off specifically to concentrate on new material and we are very excited with what we have so far. We believe the new material has evolved somewhat, its still Overoth but a little darker. Were aiming to have a new release sometime next year.

You guys have been gigging quite steadily, any particular favourite gig that springs to mind? And for what reason? And, naturally, who is the party animal of the band?
I think I can speak for everyone on this one. Earlier this year we played in Bern, Switzerland with Sinister. The promoters did a really good job, everyone was looked after really well and the show was sold out. The venue had a great atmosphere. The crowd were amazing, lots of friendly violence if such a thing exists. It was definetley an old school death metal gig. Should I mention the several bottles of irish whiskey brought in specially for the Irishmen for after the show haha. I think we left our mark on that one. Party animal? We're all as bad as each other haha.

Where can folk go check you out in the future?
Later this month we'll be playing in Belfast with Suffocation and as I mentioned earlier were doing a UK/Ireland Tour in September/October with Bloodshot Dawn. As always keep an eye on the website www.overoth.com, or the myspace, facebook, twitter, etc for news, updates, upcoming shows and new merchandise which were releasing very soon.

Cheers for the interview, anything to add, last rites?
Thanks Connor. Yeah, big thanks to everyone who has supported Overoth. See you all on the road!
Band:
Interviewer: Connor
Aug 17, 2010

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