Back to the thrash, after releasing high-quality thrash albums with catchy shredding and heavy beats "Overkill" released this album called "I Hear Black". The album was not a hugh success and was not a very important album for the band too, the album was released in 1993 and it was a bit different than some of their biggest and perhaps more musical albums like "The Years Of Decay" and "Horrorscope". This album did not contain so much speed but the heaviness was though much bigger, the songs were a bit slower, the vocals was basically the same but the heavy sound was something new. This album would've seemed like a fan-splitting album, some fans was expecting intensive riffing but the album delivered more slower and dynamic grinds instead, but most fans accepted it with a good response though.
The crew that made this album was yet another new line-up and the band members at that time was the vocalist Bob "Blitz" Ellsworth, the long time partner and bassist D.D Verni, Rob Cannevino on guitars, Merritt Gant as the second guitarist and Tim Mallare behind the drums. Bob's vocals is best described as a bit devilish, cranky, skilled and melodic. Bob does a very good job on this record, he knows when to sing high or low and there is no irritating vocal sections. D.D Verni hammers on with his bass, the bass in this band most be one of the best and loudest, you can hear the bass lines very clear and they are very heavy. The bass gives the songs a very solid sound that makes the material very heavy. Rob and Merritt also does a good job on this album, the guitars are thick, raw, heavy and solid in their sound. The riffing and shredding is though not so advanced or complicated but there are some catchy tunes here and there. Tim thunders on pretty good with his drums, the drums are both fast and slow, the patterns has a good variety which makes the material interesting to hear at.
The things that I enjoyed about this album was quite a few, we can begin with the instrument I admire the most, the bass. Compared to other thrash-metal bands the bassist doesn't get very much attention (except from bands like "Anthrax", "Megadeth" and "Metallica"). D.D delivers very heavy bass lines that makes the songs fat with heaviness, just make sure that you have high volume on your stereo when you listen to this for best effect. Another thing that I enjoyed was the 'newer' sound from "Overkill", the riffs were a bit more well-thought and they were very heavy. The band also kept the catchiness in the riffing/shredding and they didn't made the riffs to complicated or hard-played. The last thing I enjoyed was the vocals, I have listen to the bands present stuff and I found the vocals almost annoying because Bob uses a more experimentet voice. He makes wierd noises and that ruins the songs a bit in my opinion, the vocals in this album is very good. His vocals may seem a bit whiney but he doesn't go over the top when he sings, he keeps his voice pretty low which makes the vocals more devilish and evil.
Some things I didn't like about this album was this 'new' sound, the pace was one thing I didn't enjoy so much. I really love these heavy and bone crushing riffs and shredds but I prefer the bands faster stuff, if the band had a faster tempo in the songs it would've sounded great but they did not. Some songs were pretty fast and some songs were pretty slow, some of the bands slower songs are pretty good but these songs were more sluggish in my opinion. They were not so catchy, the guitars was going up and down in some songs and that didn't grab my attention that good.
There you go, this album was one of the better "Overkill" albums I have heard yet and that was because of the heavier sound. The sound was very heavy but the songs were a bit more sluggish, they were though quite catchy but the tempo made them a bit boring after a while. Their previous albums had more speed, quite simplistic but yet catchy riffing and that was the important things that was missing in this album if you ask me. This album is recommended to thrashers and of course to "Overkill" fans as well but maybe more to the more dedicated fans of "Overkill". I think that this album would suit most metal heads because of its heaviness, I hope this review was helpful and if you have anything complains or thoughts about this review just let me know.
PROS
+ The material is very heavy
+ The band succeeded with their 'new' sound pretty good
+ The instruments are well-balanced
+ This album would go home to most heavy-metal fans and metal fans in general
CONS
- If you like the faster material of Overkill you may not like this so much
- The slow pace in the material makes some of the songs boring
RECOMMENDED TRACKS
-- Just Like You
-- Feed My Head
-- Weight Of The World
The overall album rating will be: 4/5
