Released By : Self Released
Genre: Horror Punk Rock
Links: http://www.myspace.com/overgrown
Lineup:
Maarten De Vugt – Vocals, Bass
Hans Vermeeren – Guitars, Vocals
Alex De Brujn – Guitars, Vocals
Wouter De Vugt – Drums
Tracklist:
1.Hollywood Frankenstein
2. Chill Before Serving
3. Touche
4. Unlike Me A Tragedy
5. Once I Get My Hands On The Detonator
6. Officer Johnson (Lucifer’s Law)
7. Legally Light Hearted
8. Heyawaka!
9. Outta Line
10. Cry Musician
11. The Scepter
OVERGROWN hail from The Netherlands and play a punky hard rock style in the vein of bands like THE HELLACOPTERS and BACKYARD BABIES. HAND OVER THE SCEPTER is their debut album and has been self-released by the band. This isn’t a cheapo self-release though, the album is in high-quality digipak format with a great fold-out lyrics booklet and picture disc. So, product wise it would seem that these guys are the real deal, so what about the music?…. I for one thoroughly enjoyed most of it. The style itself is not something I listen to a whole lot but I do know a bit about it and it was refreshing really after listening to some gloomy doom metal releases and some intricate math & prog metal lately, it was nice to just put in a CD, grab a brewskie and not worry too much. The main vibe that I get from this album is pure fun. It’s not at all serious, and with song titles like ONCE I GET MY HANDS ON THE DETONATOR, HEYAWAKA and CRY MUSICIAN it’s not hard to tell that the heart of this band is all about the fun.
In the promo the band claim that with their style they are trying to create a scene…. I think this may be a bit ambitious and I hope that it’s meant to be part of the joke as we really don’t need any more ‘scenes’.
Whilst the style is pure dirty punk ‘n’ roll, one advantage the band have over a lot of others that play the same style is that they all seem like good musicians, something that is actually quite rare in the modern day punk scene. My favorite track was TOUCHE which featured an awesome little solo done on a banjo of all instruments.
HEYAWAKA is as fun as the title makes it out to be and CRY MUSICIAN has a hilariously well-written lyric.
HAND OVER THE SCEPTER didn’t totally blow me away, but the time I spent with it was quite enjoyable. I’m happy to recommend the album to anyone that misses THE HELLACOPTERS, and if anyone has the opportunity to see these guys like don’t pass it up, I feel they would be an awesome live band.
Written By ZeeZee
Rating: 7/10
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