Here I am again with a release that doesn’t really correspond to my personal taste – geee, meanwhile I sort have the feeling that I don’t go for German underground releases anymore. Although thinking about this assumption, not quite right… acts such as GOMORRHA, DEFEATED SANITY and DESPONDENCY are awesome because they are extreme… and Metal is supposed to be extreme in my view. This certainly is not extreme at all. SILENT OVERDRIVE are an easy listening act celebrating formations such as… quote from the info-sheet: "AT THE GATES, SENTENCED, HEAVEN SHALL BURN, CALIBAN (…) IN FLAMES…" Well, quite right – AT THE GATES and old IN FLAMES releases used to define uttermost extremity in the olden times… especially IN FLAMES one can state. These guys combine modern Thrash elements with all those fashionable grooves, beautiful melodies others are able to produce in a better fashion. All these impressions may be objectionable — there we go. This just isn’t my kind of Metal… too smooth, too positive in a way, too rock-inspired. I have always detested SENTENCED with their cheesy melodious chord-patterns and pitch-shifter solos… yakyak. Of course, it is true — SILENT OVERDRIVE are solid musicians, decent production (although not really state of the art), no major flaws or things like that. The guitars sound conventional, melodious, some twists, Metal solos that just aren’t spectacular at all… the drummer has a good groove… first song with some SEPULTURA-inspired fills here and there. The vocalist reminds me of CROWBAR at times and a rather mediocre grunter apparently having the awkward urge to produce some shallow rock-melody-lines here and there. No! This certainly is no act I will pay heed to in the future. Band contact: www.silentoverdrive.de, label: www.mdd-shop.de.