Interview with OVERLORD (Bangladesh)

OVERLORD is a melodeath originated from Dhaka since 2010. They have just unveiled a  promising debut record in October 26th, 2019 ‘Resurgence of the Obstinate Kind’, and a finely detailed album, albeit with softer synth parts and more atmospheric, then they put their aggression right fronts with harsh vocal lines, paired seamlessly with high and searing lead guitars to create a rapturous combination of melodic and death which for me, they have delivered the genre efficiently...A heavy dose of melodic deathmetal with its catchy in the vein of Arch Enemy, Kalmah, COB..etc!

MD : First of all, please give us some brief history of OVERLORD?

 

OL : Once Priyotosh was playing an Arch Enemy song in their university, with no idea that Zarif, the other guitar player, would join him to play the other guitar part of the same song. Both of them were pleasantly surprised, and eventually became best friends. Later on, they jammed together months on end and eventually formed the band because they had managed to create some original compositions. Following their natural urge, they recruited the other promising members for the band after a thorough search in the local music industry through friends. That’s how Overlord was formed in 2010.

MD : Why is it almost 10 years to produce the first album since its inception?

 

OL : To be honest, most primary years were spent finding the right people. In the meantime, compositions were getting done. We still have a lot of unused materials which feels like potential parts to be put inside a song, but however, since every song is a package, we carefully crafted the parts and tried not to make it boring. For this repeated process of trial and error, refinement and inclusion of ideas, it took a long time.

MD : So, I guess 'Resurgence of the Obstinate Kind', really worth it for you?

 

OL : Well, you can never be totally satisfied. When we hear our own songs, it feels like “what if we could change this bit/add something here/replace this part”, and hence it never ends. Given the circumstances, we can confidently say it was worth our time, knowing we could have done better, however as I said, circumstances have limited our scope and the output we’ve produced is quite satisfactory compared to that. Going forward, we’ll try to be more creative in terms of song structuring and overall approach to compose tracks.

MD : How did to come an idea to collaborate with Joey Concepcion on the 'anarchy' track? 

 

OL : He is an excellent guitarist indeed. He is a fabulous young guitarist who is making a name for himself. When Joey was becoming quite the star guitarist, our guitarist Priyotosh was in touch with him and saw a potential scope to work together. He soon approached Joey for a guest solo, to which he agreed and then escalated the song ‘Anarchy’ to a different level.

MD : I think you have studied and experimented a lot about these things; Anti-system, Revolution, Rebellion, Anarchy) etc, are they all related to your surrounding or outside?

OL : This is related to our name. Our name “Overlord” is a stance, a protest against the megalomaniac overlords, be it corporations or military or government, and these are driven by a small group of people who have created a network to garner this immense power over the other majority of the world. This is not a local phenomenon, rather a globally dispersed cancer of the society where people are systematically oppressed. The only way out is to stand against this system, revolt, create anarchy and a gather people for a successful revolution to uproot this system. We are just a tiny speck in this spectrum, yet, we felt that it is our collective responsibility.

MD : How to come an idea of the concept of the album 'Resurgence of the Obstinate Kind'?

 

OL : As discussed just now, our core theme is anti-system, revolt and rebellion. From this, our musical expressions have been born and to accompany the music, the words were added later on. Spawn was the first song which was written by Priyotosh, and later on, while writing the other songs, he seemed to have bound the songs and together with Zarif, found an overarching theme to it. It was only then they decided to arrange the words in a sequential manner to tell an overarching story, and thus the concept album “Resurgence of the Obstinate Kind” came to life.

MD : How did you describe your musical style as death metal aggression with soulful touch of melody?

 

OL : Haha! Nicely captured from our bio/about us section there! Our music is primarily guitar driven, while keyboard plays a very important role in laying the foundation. What we’ve discovered is that, our natural flow of compositions tend to have a death metal aggression to it in terms of vocal throwing, lyrical theme, and most importantly, the guitar riffs. On the other hand, the bridge, interlude and especially chorus tends to be more melodic – thus bringing together a combination of both worlds.

MD : Have you received any good offer from any record labels regarding your next second album and don't forget to tell us about how the new material sounds like?

OL : We really haven’t approached any record labels for the second album as its still a work in progress. For now, we plan to promote our debut album furthermore and bring everything together for our 2nd album. Once the pieces are in a more organized state, we’ll start searching for a record label. As for the sound of the new material, it does have our signature sound (as some of our close buddies say, who have heard the songs), and also brings in some fresh concepts and ideas along a wide range of influences and sounds. The songs are more versatile, it’s interesting and experimental in some places as well. We are hopeful that listeners will accept it well.

MD : I see you are seriously promoting OVERLORD through social media like Bandcamp, Spotify, fb etc..and it certainly helps a lot. Have you ever felt intimidated by the exposure and competition of your music in the global arena?

OL : To some extent, yes, we felt intimidated because a lot of good and great music is now coming out on a more frequent basis. However, we are still trying to figure out how our promotion can be done more efficiently and hopefully things will get better with time. We believe that if our music reaches the right group of people, they will accept it.

MD : Honestly, The Bangladeshi metal scene looks really great these days with a lot of talented bands. Can you recommend some groups out there that should be noted and why?

OL : Bangladeshi metal scene is blooming with extremely talented bands. To name only a few, Nawabs of Destruction launched a mind-blowing tech-death album called ‘Rising Vengeance’, Also, the quartet Prog Metallers ‘Messianic Era’ nailed their debut album with a wide range of musical spectrum. The overall thrash metal and death metal scene here is thriving.

MD : How do you manage study time, work, family, music?

OL : This is a very valid question! Most band members shuffle their study time and time for music intermittently. Some of the more aged members of the band are now struggling to manage time for music, given most hours of the day is spent behind job and then family life. Weekends and some time off during weekdays, practicing in our own homes to formulate ideas, and then bringing them to practice sessions to convert them to songs is the process currently being followed.

MD : Thank you for this nice conversation, man! let’s hope We’ll hear more news from your side soon. Any left to adds?

OL : We had a great time answering these questions. Yes, we do have a few points to add. At the moment, the social media presence of the band might seem a little dull, but however, the band is not dead. Work is progressing behind the scenes. Some important updates are that Zarif, our founder member and guitarist will be leaving for Canada to settle in January 2022. However, he will not quit the band, he’ll remotely be connected and keep continuing to be actively involved with band activities. Another point is that, we have released a new song, which we plan to keep in the 2nd album. It is in the international compilation album named “World Domination”, along with 19 other awesome bands from all around the world. The song name is 'Ayahuasca', and it is one of our more experimental tracks. A lyrics visualizer video will be published soon, so stay tuned!

https://overlordbd.bandcamp.com/album/resurgence-of-the-obstinate-kind