ALBUM REVIEW: Overpower – Any Given Day
German metalcore stalwarts ANY GIVEN DAY have the spent the majority of their seven years of existence seemingly on the precipice of something special. They’ve attained the great tours, and the right amount of notoriety with songs like their cover of Rihanna‘s Diamonds and TRIVIUM front man Matt Heafy featuring on their own track Arise – but the quintet have never quite managed to merge something together to make themselves look like potential superstars.
New record Overpower isn’t necessarily a trek down an already trodden path by ANY GIVEN DAY, but by the same token the band still struggle to etch their name in gold here. There’s plenty of weight behind its punches, but Overpower never truly gets going as a tour de force of modern contemporary metal, it’s the closest the band have come to being the finished product thus far, but they’re still not there yet.
With that said there’s certainly enough here to willingly sink your teeth into. The solemn opening tones of Start Over become subdued by feverish guitar lines and a thumping rhythm section, while In Deafening Silence has as strong a hint from classic power metal as it does THY ART IS MURDER. You can find this harsh scent permeating through most of the record too – Devil Inside kicks like a horse when it reaches full throttle, and these are the moments where ANY GIVEN DAY sound at their most exciting.
But this in itself is where Overpower meets its plague, ANY GIVEN DAY often chase a clean chorus where there was no need for one. Vocalist Dennis Diehl does a commendable job of performing both heavy, and melodic vocal sections – but his scales of impact are tipped astronomically in the favour of his harsh vocals. The chorus sections on Loveless and Whatever It Takes sound like a cardinal sin, because everything seems to be flowing perfectly up to this point – and the cleans of Diehl are inescapably jarring.
It’s frustrating too – because the quintet seem to have heavy artillery in literally every other area of their band. Overpower, more than any of its predecessors is produced exceptionally. Every breakdown sounds like a riot in your brains, and the mix shines to such a level that you struggle to see how the Germans could possibly do this justice live. You can see what ANY GIVEN DAY are going for here, clean choruses often equal improved accessibility – but you can’t help but feel like if ANY GIVEN DAY simply stuck to their prime attributes their stock would improve tenfold.
Despite its often obsession with trying to appeal to everyone but inadvertently alienating itself – guitarists Andy Posdziech and Dennis Ter Schmitten make Overpower a worthwhile listen almost on their own. Best song on the record Lonewolf has added layers of precision and mass down to the duo’s rupturing guitar lines, it’s a legitimate tick box of what great metalcore musicianship should sound like. See the solo in Whatever It Takes for the proverbial cherry on the top of this punishing dessert of musicianship.
Though it refuses to focus solely on what it does best, Overpower has more than enough idiosyncrasies to keep you coming back. The clean choruses are often disenfranchising – but turn up for what lies either side of them and you’re almost certain to leave satisfied. It’s still not time for ANY GIVEN DAY to take a seat with the upper echelon’s of modern metal bands – but they continue to take strides towards someday being in with a shout.
Rating: 7/10
Overpower is out now via Arising Empire.
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