7

It's not pop but it's definitely not rock.

Overdrive Orchestra describe their music as "innovative riffs with melodic phrasing" and the vocals as "smooth and raspy" (bit of a contradiction there, right?). Words such as "blistering", "thunderous" and "fist-pounding" are used frequently in their bio, but I was left at a bit of a loss to actually identify any music on "The Grey Area" that actually meets this description.

Let's start with the "smooth and raspy" vocals, contributed by front-man Chris Cranick. Far from the typical powerful sound one would expect from the front-man of such a supposedly hard-hitting band, he has a weak, whiney voice that would be more associated with the pretty boy-bands that infected the music scene of the 1990's.

Moving on to the instrumentals, I was expecting a hard rock performance, or at least something with a bit of substance; what I got was something entirely different. Ballad after ballad with cheesy slow piano accompaniments and the occasional, predictable over-the-top guitar riff. As for the "blues-based guitar solos", I must have blinked and missed them. The second half of the album was slightly heavier as the band finally grew a pair and crossed the line from washed-up pop act to soft rock band but still nowhere near the musical bludgeoning they promised in their bio.

I can't help wondering how much work Overdrive Orchestra put into "The Grey Area". The recording quality is pretty terrible and I do wonder whether the 'PR guru' who wrote Overdrive Orchestra's bio actually listened to the band at all! It seems to me that they have taken as many rock clichés as possible (including the ever-popular "reviving the dying rock scene" sentence that we love so much!) and thrown them into one completely misleading paragraph that is only ever going to serve them up for a right royal hammering by fans of the type of hard rock bands they claim to represent. Perhaps "The Grey Area" was created on a shoestring budget and I'm being overly critical, but they really are not doing themselves any favours.

My advice would be to lose the hard rock moniker, re-record the album in a good quality studio and hit the scene with a believable, respectable release of which they can be proud. After all, there are promising sections to this album: the guitar riffs, whilst too extravagant for the album as it currently stands, do show incredible skill and whilst Cranick's vocals aren't to my taste, he does extremely expressive and would appeal to fans of lighter music.

It's not pop but it's definitely not rock, yet it's not depressing enough to be indie, which as a rule of thumb generally provides a bridge between the two genres. Overdrive Orchestra have created their own niche which, with the right marketing, could grow to be something pretty special.

Want to find out more about Overdrive Orchestra? Check them out at the following websites:

www.myspace.com/overdriveorchestra
www.facebook.com/overdriveorchestra
www.youtube.com/overdriveorchestra