Overcome 1978 / Sommor 2016
S To S
Angst and aggression from the quiet of Belgium where vitriol’s brewed and the luck is screwed.
It was a wrong way to kick out the jams for this band, because in the late ’70s complacent Europe didn’t want its feathers ruffled, so there’s no use in blaming the bombing of their sole LP on the unfortunate logo lettering. Not a KISS-like comic book characters and not the Detroit Rock City dwellers, the quartet from Seraing erupted from local scenesters ETNA to fashion a new wave of metal that reflected the lyrical anger of pieces such as “Children Killers” – blistering but suitably grimy.
It suits the mood of the America-depicting opener “Great Billy” which is shot through with furious splinters of Fulvio Cannella’s guitar, and feels quite right for the finale of “Stay Of Victor Feinberg” where the story of a Soviet dissident is told, yet the good-time riffs are all the rage on “Kids Of The Night” and the “It’s O.K.” boogie. On the other hand, “I’m A Fool” – stricken with synthesizer and sax alienation – is an example of the group’s ability to handle blues-based epics that BÖC would be proud of, so it’s a great pity the Belgians didn’t hang around long enough to join the heavy cult of the next decade.
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