Album/EP

Over-Reactor – Cocaine Headdress (Album Review)

Walladmin

Heavy Metal Wordsmith

/10

Jul 4, 2017

7 min read

Over-Reactor – Cocaine Headdress
Released: 7^th July, 2017

Over-Reactor Lineup:
Ezekiel Ox - vocals
Cory Blight – guitar, bass, drums, programming

Over-Reactor online:
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What would you get if you put the masters of groove metal Pantera, hip hop legends Beastie Boys and Indie-rock icons Melvins in a blender? You’d get the gooey sticky foundations for Melbourne duo Over-Reactor. In a world of mashed up genres becoming mainstream, with the likes of metal-core, death-core and math-core (I may have just made that last one up… nope Wikipedia says it’s a thing). None of these genres compare to the genius that is death-hop. A term first coined by an unnamed fan of Over-Reactor, saw the band adopted it as their own.

Over-Reactor emerged from the underground of Melbourne’s music scene in 2010, two guys just looking to do their own thing, backed by a urge to experiment musically and mixing in strong political views. It must be said even though Over-Reactor have moved on musically from their beginnings in 2010 to present day 2017, the same can’t be said for some of the social causes the band champion. With Ezekiel Ox calling out Federal Politicians who voted against marriage equality back in 2012, here we are five years later and we can’t get the fuckers to even vote on it again!

But I digress.

Unlike the scared mice in Federal Parliament, Over-Reactor have indeed progressed. If you’re expecting the heaviness of songs like 2011’s ‘What The Fuck Am I On’ from Lose Your Delusion or the equally brutal ‘Fuck Your Culture’ off 2012’s Mouth Of the Ghetto, you won’t find it on their third full length release Cocaine Headdress. Gone is the almost Rage Against The Machine style anger, and let’s face it, you can only do the shouty rage for so long before it becomes trite and tired.

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Angry rhymes spitting like venom have given way for a more mature subtle style. The message is as strong as ever, it’s now delivered in a different way. Whereas before crunching Korn like nu metal guitars were the norm, Cocaine Headdress is dripping with funk infused electronica. The title track is an excellent example of the new direction, Ezekiel Ox dispenses with his usual urban rap and releases his inner Godfather of Soul with an almost James Brown like vocal performance. Not to be outdone multi-instrumentalist and master-of-everything-else Cory Blight throws up some funky grooves before dropping fat beats, pushing his electro wizardry to the limit. Wrap your ears around the sizzling ‘Judgement Day’, the song builds like a trance track before a fat drop at the three-minute mark, less than a minute later it’s all over. It’s clear Ox and Blight have no regard for the rules.

If you’re looking for more down tuned death-hop you won’t find it here. What you will find is not only a worthy addition to your record collection, but possibly the coolest music you will hear this year.