Artist: Overcome
Album: The Great Campaign of Sabotage
Release Date: 2/1/11
Label: Facedown Records

Last year when Overcome announced their reformation, I was very excited. I am a huge fan of their past work and own all of their previous albums. One of the main reasons for my excitement was the fact that I have always been curious to hear Overcome with today's cutting edge, digital production. It was no secret that their albums, although highly influential, suffered from less than perfect production, even for their time.

After the first few listens of The Great Campaign of Sabotage, I was torn. Although I enjoyed the songs, I was frustrated with what I perceived as very raw production and monotonous sounding songs. Somewhere along the line, my opinion changed. What I once saw as poor production, now became a breath of fresh air compared to all of the overproduced hardcore and metal that litters the scene. What was thought to be monotonous sounding, began to reveal itself to be rather complex and chaotic. I realized I had become a victim. A victim of the all too frequent culprit known as hype. I over-hyped this album so much that anything less than perfect was a letdown.

As for The Great Campaign of Sabotage, this album is a perfect blend of chaotic metalcore, with elements of Overcome's old Spirit-filled hardcore sound. Some of the highlights for me are "Reverence Part 2" with its great lead guitar work, "Profession," with its spastic tempo changes, "Alone In A Crowd," with its exceptional drum work, and "Clemency," with its dueling vocals. New vocalist Thomas Washington does a good job of adding in low death grunts to spice up his raspy screams. Although I would've loved to hear longtime vocalist Jason Stinson's throaty screams more, Thomas does a more than capable job.

Overall: If you are looking for something different in your hardcore and metal, this album is definitely for you. Overcome has put out a solid release, especially considering their ten year hiatus. With The Great Campaign of Sabotage, Overcome has managed to avoid tarnishing their legacy, all the while becoming relevant to today's hardcore and metal scene.

Rating: 8/10

Reviewed by Matthew Alexander

Tracklisting:

1. Intro
2. Reverence Part 2
3. Body of Death
4. Profession
5. Alone In A Crowd
6. The Breath of He Who Kills
7. Seeker Sensitive
8. Amnesty
9. Clemency
10. Lifting the Weak
11. Campaign of Sabotage
12. Outro

(Buy Here)

We are proud to announce the return of Overcome to the Facedown Family!  The partnership between Overcome and Facedown Records goes all the way back to the birth of the label in 1997, and now Overcome is back to release their new album on Facedown.  Release number 100 will be titled The Great Campaign of Sabotage and will be Facedown's first release of 2011.  The Phoenix hardcore legends lead by Jason Stinson have returned with new music and new members, but their message remains the same.  Says Stinson, "Be ready, a new flame is burning."