Most people will know Steve Overland from his time with Wildlife, who for a brief time were managed by Zeppelin’s manager Peter Grant and were actually on the Swan Song label, and FM (the mildly successful British AOR outfit). Now under the Overland name, this is the band’s fifth release. Go on – admit it – you probably thought this was the first under this name. That’s because the melodic rock scene is so underground now, that unless you know where to look, you would easily miss all of these releases. Steve is joined here by Tommy Denander who is a co-writing partner and plays all guitars, Brian Tichy on drums, and Brian Anthony on bass.
Don’t Give Up is a standard good AOR song highlighting Steve’s great voice. Never Say Die is a more hard rockin’ affair with some tasty guitar from Tommy. Lost In The City is the first real highlight of the album with a really cool riff, groove, melody and chorus – it’s a really good song. Closest Thing To Heaven is ballad city, and the intro reminded me of Thin Lizzy in their quieter moments. Blackheart changes things up with a nice funky intro and groove. Again, great vocal and melody with some superb guitar from Mr. Denander. Side 1 closes out with Changing Times, a slow blues groove that builds to a killer solo section, along with some great vocals from Steve.
Side 2 starts off with The Trouble With Love, which has a funky Steely Dan groove and is a nice change of pace and feel. Diamond In The Dust has a very Bad Company vibe going down, and the emphasis is on the melody and hook. Nice tune! Testify follows and is another slightly different tune with an interesting groove and hook with a great middle eight. God Made An Angel is a return to ballad city with a slight harder edge. Joe Cocker came to mind here, which is more to do with the arrangement than the vocal – Tommy really wails on this one. Blaze Of Glory starts with a very southern country vibe, and then the power goes up and we start rockin’. Long Road To Heaven closes out the album. It’s the heaviest track with a monster riff that has an early seventies feel to it.
Overland and Denander make a great team, and this album deserves all of your attention. If this was 1986 this band would have been huge, but alas, that is not the case. I suggest you take a trip over to Escape Music’s web page and purchase this beauty ASAP.
9/10 from The Grooveman.
