Customer Reviews

Wreckage

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

After years of production and several delays, Wreckage, the debut album from Overseer, is finally here and ready to set the world ablaze. More than likely, you've probably already heard a good number of these tracks, seeing as how they've been used in the soundtracks of multiple movies, video games, and TV shows. While there really isn't anything that hasn't already been done on this album, the songs themselves provide a genuine and refreshing glimpse into the mind of Rob Overseer and his vast imagination, however semi-plagiristic that imagination may at times seem. Let's take a look, shall we?

1. Slayed - 4.5/5: This song sounds like a mix between the Crystal Method and the Beastie Boys. Not my favorite song on here, but not bad by any means

2. Stompbox - 5/5: This track showcases one of Overseer's specialties: mixing electronic-based music with hard rock. It's a good song to be played while participating in atheletic activities, which is quite fitting, as it was featured in the film "Any Given Sunday."

3. Supermoves - 10/5: My personal favorite of this album and quite possibly one of my favorite electronic songs ever. This song is just so fast-paced and powerful that it must be heard to be believed. If you've ever seen the movie "Snatch" or the trailer to "The Matrix Reloaded," you've heard this incredible track.

4. Velocity Shift - 5/5: This is the shortest song on the album, but it's still very, very good. It reminds me a little of a slightly harder Fatboy Slim. This song was one of two Overseer tracks featured in the game "Stuntman", as well as several various commercials.

5. Horndog - 4/5: And now we have the first single which, if you have seen the Mitsubishi Endeavor commercial, you have no doubt heard. It's a rather good mid-tempo song with an excellent bassline, but it's not really the reason you should by this CD (Supermoves is reason enough).

6. Meteorology - 3.5/5: Now the album takes a little break from all the ferocity of the first few tracks. This song is pretty good, but it's not the best of the low-tempo offerings on this album. It's actually pretty weird on the first listen, but not nearly as strange as Heligoland.

7. Aquaplane - 3/5: This is just about the same as Meteorology, only a tad bit slower and done using a different vocal style. Whereas Meteorology sounds like something Moby would do, Aquaplane sounds, in my opinion, very Gorillaz-ish.

8. Doomsday - 5/5: Back to the fast songs. This is my second favorite track after Supermoves. It combines rock, hip-hop, and electronica to produce a song rather reminescent of something BT might do.

9. Basstrap - 5/5: The other song that was in "Stuntman", which sounds very much like it's partner, Velocity Shift, although it's longer and has more vocals. A very catchy song.

10. Sparks - 4/5: This song sounds a little bit out of place. It's more along the lines of something Sarah McClaughlin would do instead of anything else on the record. That having been said, it's the best of the low-tempo songs and is not bad by any means.

11. Never - 2/5: Okay, this is by far THE worst song on the album. Hip-hop I can take, but this... It borders almost on gangsta rap!! While the ambient background music and female vocals in the chorus sound good, they simply cannot make up for the ghetto-centric lyrics. My least favorite on the CD.

12. Heligoland - 3/5: And we end with perhaps the weirdest song of the record, which consists of Moby-like ambient swirls complimented by what appears to be a weather-forecaster speaking complete and total nonsense, followed by a phone that rings for upwards of twenty minutes, only to hang up when someone finally answers and says "'Ello!" It's weird for sure, but it's not the worst thing I've ever heard.

All in all, this is a very solid release from an artist you've probably all heard before but you just don't know his name. Well, it's Overseer. Rob Overseer. And his CD, Wreckage, deserves to be bought. By YOU.

The reason I like bands like "The Crystal Method" and "The Chemical Brothers" is that their music sounds like (and usually is) the soundtrack to a really cool action movie. The music is furious, the lyrics are clever wordplays that don't make sense (and don't need to), and it gets your blood pumping. Overseer's "Wreckage" is almost as good as those two bands.

Dense musical compositions, strange sounds (like an airplane's sonic boom) used for effect, and truly (and I say this proudly) "head-pounding" beats. Unfortunately for some, the reason this all sounds so good is because we've heard it before. There's a song from the "Any Given Sunday" movie soundtrack, two songs from "The Animatrix" soundtrack, and "Horndog", the song played in the Mitsubishi Endeavor commercials (you know the one, where they cut to "Sponge Bob Squarepants" in the middle). I don't mind, as I don't have any of the aforementioned albums, but those that do, you already own 1/4 of the 12 songs on this track, keep that in mind. And they're the best songs on the album.

The rest of the album, however, holds up pretty well. There are a few slow, "trance-y" songs, like "Meteorology", "Aquaplane", and "Sparks", which remind me of Massive Attack or Nick Cave, or even Rob Dougan's classical-electronic sound. They're good, and flow with the rest of the album quite nicely. Also adding variety are some hip-hop influenced songs, tracks like "Doomsday" and "Never", which remind me of a slower BT, in a good way. This all adds up to a wide selection of sounds and keeps things interesting.

All in all, the wait was very long (the album was delayed many times), but it really was worth the wait.

No matter whether you are the biggest fan of Overseer, or have never heard of them before, you would have doubtlessly heard their music. Many of the songs featured on this album have been played on the TV, in games, or in movies. Examples include 'Supermoves' being played in both The Matrix and Snatch, 'Horndog' played in Eurotrip, and 'velocity Shift' and 'Basstrap' both being played in the game Stuntman. Understandably, there will be some who do not like this, but I find it fairly hard to categorise this particular style. There is such a variety of styles, whether it be techno, rap, metal, triphop etc. I have found this to be one of the very few albums available today that I can listen to every song without having to reach for the 'skip' button. All of these songs, no matter what the style, compliment eachother supremely, and Overseer should, without a doubt, become a big name in years to come.

The review given by P-57 is a shallow glance at what "Wreckage" really is, minimizing it when it really is a massive music producing undertaking with mostly great results. Although Overseer sounds similar to other groups like the Crystal Method, it's a great version of the metal mixed with breakbeats sound. How do I disagree with P-57? Let me count thy ways. First off, he says "Doomsday" was the worst track, but it's the reason I bought this cd. P-57 also remarks "any kid with a sequencer could throw together supermoves" or, "It sounds like you'd hear it in a movie..." How naive.. supermoves was not only in Snatch, but remixed for Animatrix. As for the sequencer comment, if you've ever messed with any producing software or equipment you would understand that the guys behind Overseer are MASTERS of producing music. This album took them THREE YEARS to produce. I think its apparent although 3 yrs. does seem a little long.
In fact, if you look back three years, you can reminisce about the chemical brothers, and the crystal method, groups that Overseer sounds very much akin to. I think its too bad this album took so long to produce, because it would have fit in nicely around the turn of the millenium. Although it's important to mention that Overseer is a more progressive big beat sound that's more accesible than the aforementioned groups. It's pumped up electro, rocks, and mostly sounds good. Personally I don't like the slower songs slipped into this hype mix.
The song Heligoland is a gyp, and really is 26 minutes of a phone ringing... I think the purpose of the song was to make the cd harder to copy because it makes it longer than 80 minutes. Too bad the album took so long to produce, or that maybe could have been a song.

I bought this CD recently after listening to a few samples, and reading the reviews.
After listening to it at least 20 times, my conclusion is that this is a brilliant work. This is one of those albums which still grabs you after repeated listening- not one of those you get tired of quickly.

The diversity of this artist's work is admirable: consider the contrast between their fantasticlly hard rocking tracks, and the surprisingly melodic, very listenable softer ones like tracks 6, 7, 10 and 12. I don't know too many artists who can pull off inter-genre music as effectively, and as beautifully as Overseer. The softer tracks with lyrics actually sound good! No cheesy music or lyrics- just good music.

I beg to differ with p-57's extremely shallow (and openly biased) review on the album, I mean, what's a sentence like, "the one Mistubishi uses to flog their latest pile of trash." doing in a review? Mature reviews are supposed to be disinterested and objective.

There has been alot of discussion on the last track, "Heligoland". And I quote from p-57's review: "overlayered with someone reading British sea condition reports".

Anyone who has listened to BBC radio would recognise the signature 3 bleeps at the beginning (as it has been for the last few decades). And if you actually bother to listen to the lyrics (which he has not), you'll find that the sea reports are brilliantly, and poetically interlaced with samples of emotional states of being. It is an EXCELLENT finishing track, with a beautiful, symphonic soundtrack throughout the whole reading. It appears that p-57, who describes it as "6 minutes of vague, ambient electronica" doesn't know what a string ensemble sounds like. As for the strange ending; lots of artists have put strange sounds on their albums, so I don't see the point in giving them a hard time for it.

Whether you are looking for good tracks to party to, put on a home-made action soundtrack, or to relax to, Overseer delivers them all in a surprisingly well-tailored package.

I highly recommend this album; its diversity will surprise you.

There's a reason why you've never heard of Overseer before their music started showing up in commercials and movies. At first their music doesn't make you say "Who's that?!", but rather, "Oh, yeah, cool Prodigy or Crystal Method track". Then, just as you start figuring out this stuff is better than most of the latest releases coming out of those two groups and must be someone else, the gangster-styling and Beastie Boys rapping ramp up and it sounds like another DJ just came on. Several of the tracks on here are stunning. Overseer's best moments sound like you put Prodigy, Death in Vegas, Crystal Method, and Recoil in a blender. It's awesome, to be sure. But this is so at odds with the "street vibe" in the rest of the album, and most unfortunately, littered within some of their better tracks, like on "Slayed", featured on the latest Victoria Secret commercial. You don't hear it on the commercial, because they loop the best part of the track. The album just doesn't mesh, meld, or blend together like it should overall. If they can flesh out the best of their sound and discard the incompatible rest, then Overseer will definitely hit the big time, no matter how derivative they happen to be. In the mean time, I'll be very suspicious of anything they release that's not an extended instrumental mix on a single, or something. Don't get me wrong, though, this is still worth checking out. You'll be amazed that all these songs you've heard are from the same album. Just don't expect any sort of consistency with what you've already heard.

I got this album for Christmas '03 from my brother and I'm still thanking him. It's so rare to have an album that I like more than 2 or 3 songs. Honestly I love the whole thing minus the last song (kind of annoying phone ringing). Great tunes. If you like this album you should check out Legion of Boom by The Crystal Method.

This is a really good debut that features that cool song heard in the Mitsubishi Endeavor ads. The song HORNDOG(from the commercial), SLAYED, and BASSTRAP are my personal faves. Most of the tracks are loud and fast(some have vocals/rap) encompassing electronica, rap, big beat, and metal to create very hi-energy music. These tracks have a definite 'heavy' edge to them but there are a few slow 'ambient' songs as well to cleanse the musical palette. Other artists that are similar in vein to Overseer(imo) are Hardknox, Apollo 440, and Crystal Method. If any of that peaks your interest, then by all means pick this up at its reduced debut price. If it doesn't, at least check out the track samples to see if you like them. Minus the HORNDOG sample, cause I know you've heard that one before(i could listen to the opening of that one repeatedly!). Btw, the cd allows you to access bonus stuff at Overseeronline.com.

I don't know that much about the vast arena of all things techno, but I do love THE CRYSTAL METHOD's VEGAS because all but one track is really cool electronic music sans vocalists. VEGAS turned me onto electronic music (my primary passion is guitar driven alternative) and I hurried to buy the follow up, TWEAKEND, to be dissapointed at the numerous tracks that featured singing. Hard pumping techno is better appreciated without those pesky guest vocalists. This is why I didn't enjoy WRECKAGE. The music is superb, cool pulsing beats with a soundscape of electronic bells and whistles that sounds refreshingly cool. Unfortunately, only two songs on the disc are void of full on vocal tracks (tracks 3 and 4). These two tracks rock but that's it. The rest of the CD has excellent mixes but they are mired by the singing. I just think the music speaks for itself and would be better served alone. Any techno that needs to add unnessesary singing is indeed wrecked.

Ok, so this group isn't well known and maybe it is because every time a track changes it sounds like a new group. BUT it means they are versitile. I hate CD's that sound the same through the whole album. This definitely isn't like that. Just when you get into one or two grooves, it changes and sounds totally different. That versatility, to me, speaks of talent. This is one CD my very underground influenced boyfriend and my music degree trained self can both agree on.