| CD REVIEW Overdrive |
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Band : Overdrive Ach, one of the painful memories of my past...because somehow I never managed to get ahold of this Swedish Heavy Metal band's albums when they were first about back in the '80s! Okay, for those among you interested enough in a band's history, read on (the others, move over to the latter paragraphs). Overdrive story, Pt. 1: The band was formed in August 1980 from the remnants of the bands Paradize (who'd left the world one 7-inch single) and Ocean (whom released 2 singles and a full-length album) with a line-up of singer Pelle Thuresson, guitarists Janne Stark and Kjell Jacobsson, bassist Kenth Ericsson, and drummer Kenta Svansson. Following a 2-track demo (simply titled '80 Demo) recorded in December of the formation year, the band independently issued their now impossible-to-get (only 500 copies were made) 5-track Mini-LP Reflexions and a second demo (the 5-track '81 Demo) in 1981. The band also recorded two additional and exclusive songs for local compilation album Rockslaget (issued through the SOS label in 1982) and gained ever-growing popularity paying several festivals and support slots to the likes of EF Band, Mercyful Fate, Pretty Maids, and Silver Maids to name but the most famous. The band soon got a reputation as a pioneer in the growing First Wave Of Swedish Heavy Metal, and therefore it became inevitable that the band eventually got signed (to Planet Records) for the release of full-length albums. Metal Attack was released in May 1983 to rave response from the leading magazines of the days, and did well saleswize as well. 1984's sophomore album Swords And Axes (licensed to Canadian label Banzai for 1985 release) showed an improvement in both songwriting skills and sound...but underneath the success trouble was a-brewing! In early 1985 Ericsson was replaced for former Ocean bassist Zoltan Djember, and not long after Thuresson left the band...leading to the effectual split-up in June! In between story (Pt. 1): Stark and Thuresson (now on bass) then formed Overheat with former High Voltage members Gustav Iverson (vocals) and Paul Gustavsson (drums, also ex-Mercy at the time), but the project never got past the demo recording stage. Jacobsson and Svansson formed the band Pride, which also didn't go further than recording demos. Ericsson went on to record demos with the bands Area and Interaction. The drummer was later to join local band E-Type. In 1991 Stark, Thuresson, and drummer Peter Svensson (formerly of Faith, Mercy, and Globe, later to be part of Locomotive Breath) recorded 2 instrumental tracks for the compilation albums Guitarheroes Of Sweden and Guitarheroes Of Sweden, Part 2. Overdrive story, Pt 2: in 1992 Overdrive reformed in a slightly different line-up featuring new singer/ guitarist Jörgen Aspring (aka Jörgen Miller, formerly of Blue Town and E-Type), Stark, Thuresson (on bass), and Kenta Svensson. They recorded the 4-track demo Back To Basics in 1993, but failed to get a record deal, and in 1994 the band was again dissolved. In Between story, Pt. 2: Teaming up again with Jacobsson and Peter Svensson, Stark founded Locomotive Breath (that's a story apart, but the band is supposed to still be active, even if their last album dates back to 2005). The 3 others involved in the 1992 Overdrive resurrection went on to form Crosseyed Mary (yet another story). Overdrive story, Pt. 3: In 1995 both of Overdrive's albums were re-issued on CD by the Rock Treasure label (the debut album with bonus material from a radio session, the sophomore album containing the Reflexions MLP as bonus tracks, and in 1997 the original line-up of the band came together again to play a one-off gig at the Karlshamm Rock Festival (early version of the Sweden Rock Festival), a gig which was recorded both on video and quality audio...and part of the recordings were released (along with other live recordings and two studio tracks) on Crooked Records' 2001 Mission Of Destruction – Live release (the same year also saw the release of the Stormbringer Productions single Overdrive, comprising the two songs from the very first demo of the band. Overdrive Story Pt. 4: In August 2003 the original Overdrive line-up again reformed for a show at the Rockslaget festival. They did another gig in December of the same year, and were then asked to perform at Germany's Headbanger's Open Air festival in July 2004. That gig was touch-and-go for a while, as Thuresson had decided to quit. Luckily the band found a replacement within weeks in Per Karlsson (of Portrait and Unchained). In January 2004 Metal For Muthas & High Voltage Records collaborated for the re-release of Overdrive's official releases (again with bonus material; the debut with 5 tracks taken from an instrumental pre-production demo done for the album, the sophomore album including the Back To Basics demo and two pre-production demo tracks for the third album). In May 2006 the band self-released the limited edition (only 500 copies made) mini-CD Resurrected, just prior of their appearance at the Sweden Rock Festival. Soon after, the band signed to Lion Music, with the band's 3rd album Let the Metal Do The Talking (early 2008) as a first result (European versions of the album featured a video of “Back To The Hunt”, whereas the Japanese version contained re-mastered versions of the Resurrection mini-album). So, in spite of having been around for more than 30 years now, Angelmaker is only Overdrive's 4th full-length album tot date! Work on the album started in late 2008, when Stark (in later years also known from Zello, Constancia, Mountain Of Power, Audiovision, and Planet Allience) started writing the songs “Thriller” and “Angelmaker”, setting the somewhat heavier style and approach. Then Jacobsson, Karlsson, Ericsson and Stark started writing songs individually, eventually coming together in January 2010 to select 18 tracks from the more than 25 that had been written. Rehearsals started, and recordings (in various studios) began in May...with no hurry and the intent of making this the best Overdrive album ever! Well, I guess one might say they succeeded in doin' so! From back to cover, all of the 12 songs exhume that typical Swedish Heavy Metal sound of the '80s, and keeping in mind that the boys had so much material of their own, I was surprised to find a real decent cover of “I Know there's Something Going On”, especially written by Russ Ballard for the 1982 English solo album Something's Going On by Frida (yep, of ABBA fame), and a huge hit back in the days (it even went to #1 in the hit lists in Belgium). Although I originally found the somewhat slowed-down Overdrive version a bit lame compared to the original, a lot is made up for by the soaring singing style of the slightly nasal and slightly hoarse new lead singer! Regretfully, at (www.) myspace.com/overdrivesweden [well, indeed the bandname was used before, and is still in use by the British NwoBHM-styled band (founded in 1977, they have several albums to their name), a Argentinian Prog Metal act (started in 2005, released a self-titled 2008 EP), a Mexican Southern Metal outfit (formed in 2005, released a 2006 demo and 2008 album)] you'll only find a medley of the new album (samples of the songs put together) alongside quite a few songs off the 2008 album. Possibly, the guys didn't wanna choose any individual songs, feeling equally strong about each and every one of them! Nice reminiscing, this! 90/100 Tony. |
