When it comes to melodic Death Metal, bands like In Flames or Dark Tranquillity come to ones mind automatically due to the current adjustment of the music media. The music of the Greek band OVERGARVEN is not really comparable with their Scandinavian colleagues. In fact they take mostly traditional Heavy Metal elements and mix them with deathalike parts and extreme cawing and grunting vocals. Many a time the listener recognizes strong influences from bands like Iron Maiden, which fit to the band quite well and saves them from being a copy of In Flames & Co.
The female vocals in the first song Bleeding World I understand as an experiment that doesn’t support the impact of the music, but songs like Just A Fake or the following Shattered Values are a different matter: memorable vocal lines, excellent guitar work and a cool groove. This is the way it has to be.
OVERGARVEN do not claim to be as extreme as possible. They just want to write some cool metal songs that stand above the genre borders and come across as homogeneous compositions. They surely can’t be blamed for desultoriness.
Of course the band would deserve the label deal they long for, but I wouldn’t be surprised if OVERGARVEN are forced to stay in the underground. What counts isn’t the music anymore, but the boots you lick.