The 3CD discography Only Death Is Smiling from Massachusetts' metal legends Overcast is coming February 3rd.  Fans can preorder the triple CD with exclusive tee shirts, posters, and even a limited edition skate deck at the Bullet Tooth webstore.  The band has lined up record release shows at the end of the month and they are almost all sold out.  They will also be a featured headliner at this year’s New England Metal & Hardcore Festival with Between The Buried And Me, The Red Chord, and many more.

The band started in the early ‘90s long before the explosion of metal from the New England area, and released a few albums on indie labels until the late ‘90s when they broke up to focus on new bands like Shadows Fall and Killswitch Engage, and more recently, Death Ray Vision. As a lot of their titles are currently out of print, the band decided to release Only Death Is Smiling on Bullet Tooth featuring 45 tracks on three separate CDs, including unreleased material.  

To say that Overcast were legendary is fairly accurate, as most new metal bands have paid tribute to the obvious influences in their music. In fact, some give Overcast credit for starting the massive sub-genre called metalcore. Their recent performance at This Is Hardcore in Philadelphia sent hundreds of metal and hardcore fans into a frenzy with their brutal and technical metal written with the dancefloor in mind.

Some heavy hitters in the current metal world are quite excited about this new release, including both Jesse and Adam from Killswitch Engage and Ken from Unearth:

“In my eyes, Overcast was one of the most influential bands from their era. They came at a time where it wasn't so commonplace to mix heavy musical styles as much as they did. (And their singer Brian looked like a spooky creature from the deep with his hair.) Their ability to make unique, heavy, aggressive, and melodic songs was such a cool thing to see back then, and ultimately was what brought me to want to do a collaboration with Mike.” - Adam Dutkiewicz (Killswitch Engage)

"When I was in the Danvers middle school system, one of my older high school friends Jay (Agoraphobic Nose Bleed) handed me Expectational Dilution on a copied cassette. Needless to say, I was in awe! Overcast was and always be one of the greatest bands to come from the New England area! I followed them religiously from gig to gig and was lucky enough to share the stage with them once or twice. The Unearth camp still rocks the whole discography to this day! Fans for life!" - Ken Susi (Unearth)

“Overcast was Revolutionary! Back when I first saw them I was blown away and quickly became a fanboy following the band around the Northeast and eventually landing shows with them with my band at the time Corrin. Every show became more and more intense, you never knew what was going to happen at an Overcast show. They changed the face of music for many people like myself who witnessed the brutality and precision of this band. I recently saw them play at set at This Is Hardcore 2014 and I screamed along to every word! The blend of hard hitting hardcore and metal riffing along with Brian’s mid-range guttural screams makes Overcast a crucial part of the history of heavy music. They changed the game and helped inspire an entire generation of bands.” - Jesse Leach (Killswitch Engage)

Only Death Is Smiling tracklisting:

Disc 1

“Grifter”
“Twodegreesbelow”
“Absolute Threshold”
“As A Whole”
“Allegiance To The Flesh”
“Iconoclasm”
“Bleed Into One”
“Diluting Inertia”
“Faceless” (7” version)

“Staredown” (7” version)

“Follow” (7” version)

“Bleed Into One” (7” version)

“Pure Agony”
“Grifter” (7” version)

“Forecast” (7” version)

Disc 2

“Apocalypse Upon Us”
“Spun”
“Filter Of Syntax”
“Styrofoam Death-Machine”
“Your (Destructive) Self”
“More Metal Than Your Ma’s Kettle”
“Seven Ft. Grin”
“Dousing This Flame”
“Seven Ft. Grin” (Split 7” version)

“For Indifference” (7” version)

“Fate’s Design” (7” version)

“Your (Destructive) Self” (Demo)

“Forecast” (Demo)

“Dousing This Flame” (Demo)

“Spun” (Demo)

Disc 3

“Spun” (Live)

“Filter Of Syntax” (Live)

“Allegiance To The Flesh” (Live)

“Apocalypse Upon Us” (Live)

“Grifter” (Live)

“As A Whole” (Live)

“More Metal Then Your Ma’s Kettle” (Live)

“Seven Ft. Grin” (Live)

“As A Whole” (SMMDI Demo)

“Iconoclasm” (SMMDI Demo)

“Absolute Threshold” (SMMDI Demo)

“A Means…” (Demo)

“Scar The Mind” (Demo)

“A National Acrobat”

Teaser video:

Overcast live:

January

29 – Boston, MA – The Middle East (Sold out)
30 – Providence, RI – The Ruins
31 – Worcester, MA – Ralph’s Diner (Sold out)

February

1 – Worcester, MA – The Middle East (Sold out)

April

17 – Worcester, MA – New England Metal Fest

Overcast is:

Brian Fair - vocals

Mike D’Antonio - bass

Pete Cortese - guitar

Scott McCooe - guitar

Jay Fitzgerald - drums