System Overload (album)

System Overload
Studio album by HDK
Released	23 February 2009
Studio	Excess Studio, Rotterdam, The Netherlands Eternia Studios, Reuver, The Netherlands Gate Studios, Wolfsburg, Germany
Genre	Heavy metal, melodic death metal, thrash metal
Length	47:38
Label	Season of Mist
Producer	Sander Gommans, Joost van den Broek, Hans Pieters, Arjen Lucassen, Amanda Somerville
HDK chronology
System Overload (2009) Serenades of the Netherworld (2014)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]

System Overload is the first album released by Dutch After Forever guitarist Sander Gommans's side project HDK (Hate, Death, Kill).[2] The music of this album is heavier and more extreme than the usual style of After Forever and Gommans created HDK in order to release the album by himself.[3] The album was released on 23 February 2009 on the Label Season of Mist.[4] The many guest musicians involved in the making of this album produced and recorded their parts separately in various recording studios, following basic tracks provided by Gommans.

Track listing

All music by Sander Gommans, all lyrics by Amanda Somerville.

1. "System Overload" – 3:02
2. "Request" – 4:33
3. "Let Go" – 3:33
4. "Terrorist" – 4:19
5. "Pedestal" – 5:23
6. "On Hold" – 3:23
7. "Breakdown" – 5:06
8. "March" – 4:04
9. "Perfect" – 5:14
10. "Fight or Flight" – 4:06
11. "Fine Lines" – 4:55

Personnel

HDK

• Sander Gommans - rhythm/solo/acoustic guitars, grunts/screams/whispers on tracks 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9 and 11
• Peter Vink – bass
• Ariën van Weesenbeek – drums

Guests musicians

• Amanda Somerville – female vocals/whispers on tracks 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9 and 10
• Joost van den Broek – additional keyboards on tracks 7 and 9, lead keyboards on tracks 5 and 11
• Arjen Lucassen - guitar solo on track 9
• Marcel Coenen - guitar solo on track 10
• Bastiaan Kuiper - guitar solo on track 5
• Andre Matos - clean vocals on tracks 2 and 11
• Jos Severens - additional clean vocals on tracks 1, 4, 9, 10 and 11
• Patrick Savelkoul - grunts/screams on tracks 1, 6 and 10
• Mike Scheijen - screams on tracks 4, 8 and 11
• Paul Niessen - rap vocals on tracks 5, 7 and 11, artwork

Production

• Sander Gommans - producer, engineer, mixing
• Amanda Somerville - vocal producer
• Joost van den Broek - producer and engineer for keyboards and drums recordings, mixing
• Hans Pieters – producer and engineer for drums recording
• Arjen Lucassen – producer and engineer for bass recording and guitar solo on track 9
• Marcel Coenen – engineer for guitar solo on track 10
• Darius van Helfterenn – mastering at Wisseloord Studios, Hilversum
• Jérôme Cros – artwork at Season of Mist Graphic Desk
• Andrea Beckers, Felix Scharf – photography

References

1. Prato, Greg. "HDK - System Overload review". AllMusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 2011-07-10.
2. "HDK System Overload". HDK Official Site. Retrieved 2010-04-02.
3. AFTER FOREVER Guitarist Discusses HDK Project; Audio Available - Jan. 6, 2009 on www.roadrunnerrecords.com
4. HDK: "System Overload" - neues Album am 23. Februar on www.vampster.com