Over Your Threshold – Facticity (CD)

FACTICITY is the debut album from OVER YOUR THRESHOLD, a progressive death metal quintet hailing from Munich in Germany. Formed in 2006 and having released a EP, ‘Progress in Disbelief’ in 2008, the band entered the studio in 2011 to record the album. They suffered a setback at the beginning of the year when long-serving member Leonhard P. left the band and was replaced by guitarist Kilian Lau and vocalist Ludwig Walter, however fortunes took a turn for the better when they were signed to Metal Blade Records, who have released the aforementioned album.

You can immediately tell that this is a band who have been around for six years – the music sounds like they really know what they are doing. At times incredibly brutal, at times very thrashy, and at times very soft too. No, really. ‘Self Exhibition’, for example opens with a simply crushing riff that explodes into a snarling growl and thrash guitar, complimented with an expert lesson in drumming from Julian Matejka.

The title track, on the other hand, finishes quite beautifully with an acoustic outro. It’s an album with so many different elements that you might think that they wouldn’t work when put together, but OYT have done it with both precision and class. If there IS one criticism to be made, however, it’s that too often the band find themselves relying on the same techniques – almost half of the tracks open with some form of scream or growl, which does get a bit repetitive after a while.

Nevertheless, this is a solid debut release, and if the new members can lock in well with the rest of the band, I see no reason why they shouldn’t go on to achieve big things. 7/10

Lineup:
Ludwig Walter – vocals
Lukas Spielberger – guitars
Kilian Lau – guitars
Christian Siegmund – bass
Julian Matejka – drums

Track Listing:
1. Cortical Blindness
2. Contextual Fluctuating
3. Obscure Mind Stasis
4. Self Exhibition
5. Desolation Row
6. Antic
7. Abdicated
8. Body Part Illusion
9. Facticity

Links:
Website: http://www.overyourthreshold.de
Facebook: http://www.facbeook.com/overyourthreshold

About Elliot Leaver

PlanetMosh's resident Iron Maiden fanboy and Mr. Babymetal. Also appreciates the music of Pink Floyd, Rammstein, Nightwish, Avenged Sevenfold, Slipknot and many others. Writing to continue to enjoy life away from the stresses of full-time employment.