Harem Scarem
Overload

I must admit that the disappointment felt with Higher made me think that the four Canadians had nothing more to say. And perhaps I was right that time, as Scarem no longer exists (alas!).

In May 2005, Overload was released, the sequel to the disappointing Higher. I like Overload slightly more, but we are now light-years away, even from the much-hated post-Voice Of Reason period (let alone the first two albums!). The lineup remains that of Weight Of The World, that is Harry Hess (vocals/keyboards), Pete Lesperance (guitar/keyboards), Barry Donaghy (Bass/BV), and Creighton Doane (Drums/BV).

However, I must give credit to Harem Scarem for wanting to produce a bold album, with sounds akin to those of Nickelback, but not succeeding in all the songs. Overload also stands out for its darker and lower-tuned guitars, reminiscent of the much-discussed Voice Of Reason and a certain tendency towards an alternative sound rather than hard rock!

The album begins with a truly beautiful riff by Lesperance and a good melodic opening through "Dagger", the album's lead track featuring a good solo. Very good is also "Afterglow", with an excellent performance by Hess and a very fitting rhythmic part by Donaghy and Doane; "Rise And Fall" is a darker song, despite containing a good tempo change in the middle.

"Don't Come Easy" follows the same path as the previous song and shines even less. "Can't Live With You" is instead a beautiful semi-ballad, enriched by excellent backing vocals and Lesperance always ready with another decidedly beautiful solo!

Midway through the album comes the terrible "Forgive & Forget", a truly poor piece in every respect and rather filler. "All You're Getting" certainly doesn't raise the stakes, despite the attempt to emulate Queen in the choruses and inserted melody. Another useless piece is "Leading Me On", which shows how ideas are truly beginning to run scarce, especially for producing good music. A tiny bit above is the end of the album: "Understand You" has a good rhythm cadence and also a good melody, and "Same Mistakes", which, despite the lousy intro, is saved in the central phase. The album also includes the needless and dull new track "Wishing".

In conclusion, let's say that Overload is not bad compared to Higher and one could also say it contains a few more arrows. Half of the album is really enjoyable, but the other half is unlistenable in my opinion. However, I invite you to give it a listen and not discard it completely, as something decent can still be found.