Album Review: Urge Overkill - "Oui"
First album in over a decade from Minnesota veterans Urge Overkill, it's good to see Nash Kato and Eddie Roesser back again (sadly long time drummer Blackie Onassis is no longer with the band) with a new effort. Back in the '90s, the group offered a more suave and stylish take on the grunge formula with their Saturation album and I was intrigued to see, following a respectable previous effort in 2011's Rock 'n' Roll Submarine , how well the old magic was bearing up. It has to be said, Oui doesn't get off to a good start with a sloppy cover of Wham's Freedom which just sounds like a pub covers band trying to do the song and lacks the stardust of the original. The creeping A Necessary Evil is a better place to start the album with its tale of dysfunctional self-destructive relationships which has exactly the sort of sinister cool that informed UO's best stuff. Overall, Oui is a workmanlike Urge Overkill album rather than a standout one but that...