Some album titles do nail it, and this is one of the prime candidates. From the near-cartoonishly foppish front cover photo, with the three members primed with necklaces, silk kaftans, airbrushing and more, to nearly everything on the actual disc, Overdose is just that. The most memorable number remains the band's biggest hit single, "Crucified," a totally over-the-top disco anthem on all fronts that takes
ABBA's winning combination of memorable hooks and harmonies as inspiration and slathers a load of glitter and make-up over the whole thing. Having ultracampy lyrical asides like "I cry, I pray, mon dieu" doesn't hurt the sheer giddiness at work, and neither do the "I'm crucified like my saviour" chorus, church organ and twangy
Duane Eddy guitar.
The Army's merry series of blasphemies kicks along throughout the album, with such numbers as the half-twinky, half-ominous "Candyman Messiah" and "Say Goodbye to Babylon" taking religious imagery and tweaking it for all it's worth. New singer De La Cour does a fine job in La Camilla's shoes, though the latter pops up on a song or two throughout the album. The fondness for ritzy sci-fi scenarios still runs riot, as song titles like "Dynasty of Planet Chromada," "The Particle Song" and "Walking With a Zombie" make clear, while the same sticky-sweet combination of upbeat anthems and try-anything-at-least-once musical touches gets even more amped up here.
Andreas Wollbeck rather than
Frykberg is the main outside collaborator with
Bard here, but the change isn't a notable one in comparison to the previous album, except for a general tendency towards big songs with bigger choruses. At points the
Army ends up sounding like a clipped and discoed
B-52s (check out "We Stand United"), but in general it's just them inhabiting their own little corner of dancefloor paradise, fripperies and all. ~ Ned Raggett