“a solid piece of death metal, raw and unfiltered, and perhaps more authentic than a lot of the work by more established bands.”
Overthrust from Botswana is a death metal band that has been around for 18 years. Having released two full-length albums, some splits, and even a live album, “Live in Hamburg”, from a 2016 show, they have shown that they are no dark horse in the scene. So today I am here to discuss their 2024 album Infected by Myth. It is quite obvious that the cover artwork and the lyrics somehow belong together, dealing with the Catholic Church and the things it did and still does to people.
Musically, we get some really nasty and rough old school death metal that sometimes even tends towards war black metal such as Blasphemy, Mystifier or Archgoat because of the deep-throated rasping vocals. But the American death metal scene also clearly had a huge influence on the band. You can hear many technical riffs, but also some more or less blunt drumming played at a ferocious pace. Of course, the band are not Suffocation or Cannibal Corpse, but their music is quite entertaining when it comes to old school death metal.
“Poltergeist of Torment” is a groovier song with some cool, catchy riffs, which shows that the band can also do some more melodic stuff. It also has a very nice dramatic build-up, with the drums gradually getting faster. The last track, “Silenced Voice of Holy”, is also really enjoyable. First of all, the spoken words sound quite cool, delivered in a sardonic voice; second, the changing tempo in that song is quite interesting as well. What is open to criticism is the short running time of the album. At about 23:30 minutes, it is a very short trip into Botswana myths and the death metal scene, but I guess no one can expect Cannibal Corpse standards.
Infected by Myth is really a solid piece of death metal, raw and unfiltered, and perhaps more authentic than a lot of the work by more established bands, including in its unpolished but still decent production.
