Album Review: Overcharge - Accelerate

Something that has always bothered me about heavy music is how often the word 'fast' is used not as a description, but as praise. Somehow, speed became not just a facet of music, but something that was imbued with its own almost spiritual power. Thrash was created when bands wanted to play faster than anything they had heard, and even today mediocre albums are often criticized for 'being too slow'. This has always struck me as odd, since the words 'fast' and 'slow' say absolutely nothing about the actual quality of the musical ideas in the songs. Anytime someone begins a description of an album by mentioning the speed, I am immediately wary of what I'm about to hear. 'Good' should be the only word that matters, but it seldom is.

I say this because Overcharge comes to us, promoting their album as “adrenaline fueled... mayhem”, and reminiscent of Motorhead, and Metallica's “Kill 'Em All”, perhaps the album most famous for declaring speed an important part of music.

After a short introduction of a revving motorcycle, the title track kicks the album off, sounding like a Motorhead cover band, one that is trying to parody the fact that Lemmy can't sing. The riffing isn't bad, and there's actually something to the song, but the vocal 'performance', if I can call it that, is beyond laughably bad. It resides somewhere between Lemmy's gruff bark and a thirsty wanderer calling out for water in the middle of the desert, and all it does is make it impossible to take the music seriously. Death metal vocals may be similarly absurd to the layperson, but at least they have a theoretical explanation behind them. There's simply no explaining how anyone thought this sounded good enough.

That feeling is the only thing I get through the entirety of the record. The band plays a convincing brand of Motorhead worship, complete with a masterful knack for recreating the hooks that Lemmy would have written, if this was his music. I have to commend them for that, because Motorhead is a singular band, one that is impossible to copy... or so I thought. The fact that they can do it so well is impressive, and is easily the best aspect of this record. In fact, it might be the only aspect worth pointing out.

Taking away the feeling of deja vu, there's not much here to talk about. The riffs themselves are the speed-influenced stuff of Motorhead lore, which means they fly by in a blur without really stopping long enough to remind you they're individual riffs, while the vocals are mostly an indecipherable mess of groaning misery. Just about the only line I was able to decipher was “raise your fucking hands”, so I'm not inclined to give them much credit on the lyrical front either.

Despite being a short record, “Accelerate” is not easy to sit through, because it's simply not good enough. The band certainly has potential to fill the niche Motorhead occupies, but they can't even begin to think of establishing a name for themselves without acquiring a new vocalist. Even with the number of blackened versions of genres that have been popping up, this performance is terrible. That style isn't something I enjoy, but I think the album would have been infinitely better if the band at least had a vocalist who could do a convincing growl.

“Accelerate” is one of those piles of wasted potential I hear all too often. The instrumental facet of the band is able to play some music to scratch your Motorhead itch, but the decision making process within the band ruined any good that could have come from these songs. If their next album has a new singer, they'll be worth checking out. I can't say that right about “Accelerate”.