South African artist X Overkill is an up-and-coming Industrialist with a wealth of potential. His debut album of instrumental work blends elements of EBM, metal and dance for a powerful and emotive collection of sonic-death-pop.
The opening track is ‘Intro (Rumours)’ and this is a sample and synth-driven beast that calls upon influence from the likes of Combichrist and Celldweller whilst the title trick, ‘We Are Not Dead Yet’ sees him stray into heavier more drum n’ bass influenced territory. Follow-up ‘You Love (LPXO mix)’ is a big dancefloor filler. It blends Linkin Park guitar lines with sledgehammer beats for a monster amalgamation of genres. The next few tracks including ‘The Everything’, ‘S.R.I.’ and ‘Triple Chill’ take heavy influence from NIN’s work on ‘Ghosts I-IV’ whilst ‘Apathy’ is a very trip-hop-esque tune that draws from the likes of Tricky and Collide. This one is a real standout, it’s somewhat cathartic to listen to and it might just be the perfect cyberpunk soundtrack. ‘This Is What Happened to the Others’ fuses hardcore trance, twisted samples and some pulsating and unforgiving beats that even The Prodigy would be proud to hold within their repertoire. This will certainly rock you to your very foundations.
The final addition to this fine body of work is ‘Outro (Truth)’ which is the shortest track on the album but one with maximum impact. It’s a haunting and soulful ending to the journey of X Overkill on this first LP. There have been a variety of emotions and styles looked at over the course of the last 40-or-so minutes and each song is very much the soundtrack to a unique feeling or experience. If you give this a chance, you will certainly be able to take something from this excellent offering of crossover tunes.
There is no doubt that as an artist X Overkill takes on many aspects of his electronic and rock influences, but he doesn’t really rip them off, he just borrows certain elements to infuse within his own sound, as a result this work sounds relevant and huge for the most part. As the artist gains experience more opportunities will surely arrive, and with heavier sounds in the works and increased exposure on the way this lad could do very well within both mainstream and alternative circles.
For fans of: Combichrist, Ghosts-era NIN, Celldweller
****/5
Listen to the album on LastFM by clicking below.
