HISTORY
Well look what I found, an album from the East Coast thrashers called
Overkill. This band was formed by both
Bob ''Blitz'' Ellsworth and guitarist
Bobby Gustafson in 1984.
Overkill didn't got so much attention by the people as much as
Metallica got, the band didn't had the same ''heaviness'' as
Metallica that people were interested in. But
Overkill got a quite big reputation in the underground circles because of their ability to play technical, somewhat brutal and speedy thrash-metal, the band did their best efforts during the mid 80's and the middle of the 90's but then the band started to make a bit ''calmer'' music compared to some of their most classic ones like
''The Years Of Decay'' and
''Horrorscope''.
ALBUM INFORMATION
This album concentrates most part on fast paces and technique, and some heavy sections as well, the album as a whole does not feel so heavy in its sound though. The material is though skillfully performed, most songs are catchy, there is a good variation in the songs and
Bob's vocals are very good even here. The album has nine tracks and you can hear in some songs similarities from other bands which I will come back later to.
THE CREW
This album was made by four members and they were and two of them still are the vocalist
Bob ''Blitz'' Ellsworth, guitarist
Bobby Gustafson, bassist
D.D Verni and drummer
Sid Falck.
Bob's were as I said before very good even in this album, his vocals are though pretty high here compared to the other albums where he sounds more evil. He delivers even screams in a couple of songs here and he does that very good I must say, but he goes on with his harmonies and it sounds good.
Bobby's guitars are very good in this album, the riffing has a good variety, the shredds are very fast and quite precise and the guitar solos are very fast, quite choatic but they also feel a bit half-melodic too.
Verni doesn't want to be held back by any instruments, his bass shines very good in this album. The bass goes along good with the guitars and there are some bass filler sections here and there, is was very enjoying to hear that the bass very clear also in this album.
Sid's drumming was very classic for the thrash-metal genre, fast and pounding patterns to more rhythmic and heavier beats. The drums are though catchy, they have a good variety and they don't feel overdone.
TRACK REVIEW
Here is the songs, the thing that most of us are most interested in so lets move on and see what we got here. The album starts with
Deny The Cross, it starts with slow guitars, the bass and drums kicks in later with heavy tunes. The song increases rapidly in speed, very fast drumming and crazy but yet simple shredding.
Bob's vocals goes into scream-mode time to time and it sounds pretty goo, the guitar solos are fast and quite melodic but not any real high-quality solos though. A decent album opener.
Wrecking Crew starts with a messy and quite technical intro made by the guitars, the pattern changes and very fast shredding takes place. The drums are classic thrash but the bass is not so audible in this song, this song reminds you about old
Anthrax. This was not a good song though, the drums were not so good and the vocals felt a bit ''lame'' and not so strong.
Fear Her Name starts with a cool intro riffing, anyone who have seen the movie ''The Last Of The Mohicans'' (I think it is called that way) would agree with me. The song is though very calm and doesn't feel so heavy, the drumming has a ''marching'' pattern I would say and the riffing reminds of early
Metallica. The song gets a bit better and catchier after two minutes and stays in that condition for about two minutes beofre is ends.
Use Your Head starts with riffing guitars, the bass and the drums kicks in later. The song has pretty much trash formula and it feels familiar to
Death Angel's first album (then I mean the sound). The song has a good drum work, a catchy song pattern and a decent guitar solo.
Fatal Is Swallowed starts with a bass intro along with power chords and pick-scraping. Also this song feels a bit familiar to
Anthrax, the pace is fast ,the guitars feels though quite uninteresting and the catchiness is not high. The song does though change its pattern but then it feels familiar to
Metallica again, the song is though a bit catchier during the new pattern but otherwise this was not a good song.
Powersurge starts with a intensive and short intro followed by the bass afterwards. The guitars are playing fast shredds while the drums goes a bit slower, the vocals are also quite high in this song and it doesn't sound so good in my opinion. The song pattern is not so catchy and that is because of the drumming if you ask me, the song feels to linear and uninteresting.
In Union We Stand starts with slow drum beats and very fast shredding, the vocals kicks in short after. This song feels also similar to a band and that is because of the vocals and the song pattern, that band is
Iron Maiden, the song is slow and has a proud feel to it as the track title. Boring song which is uncatchy.
Electro-Violence starts with a odd sounding riff intro, the song gets more structure and this song pattern also felt similar to
Death Angel. The song is quite catchy and it has a good flow, it is also a bit heavier than the previous songs, the many guitar solos are very quick, frantic and skillfully played. One of the better song on this album.
Overkill II (The Nightmare Continues) is my only favorite track on this album though. It starts with a spooky and long intro (over one minute), the song gets more sound and instruments and
Bob's delivers a mighty and powerful scream. The song gets its main structure and the main riffing is so darn catchy, simplistic but yet very catchy and a bit heavy.
FINAL JUDGEMENT
I don't know about this album, I totally dig most of this bands albums but this didn't make any bigger impression on me. It was just three or two songs that I thought was interesting and only one of them became a new all-time favorite. Everything on this album felt good except for the drumming, it felt like it was a bit reptitive and most of the songs reminded of other bands and their material. I don't think tthat
Overkill copied the sounds but it didn't feel like real
Overkill material. I think that this album would go home to
Overkill fans and maybe other metal-heads who dig mid 80's american thrash. Thanks for reading this and I hope that this review was a good guidance.
PROS
+ The vocals was very good here, not overdone and they had a decent variety
+ The bass was good here, quite audiable as in their other material
+ In genral good quality thrash-metal
CONS
- The drum patterns felt a bit repetitive
- The material didn't felt so heavy
- Some songs felt familiar to other bands material
RECOMMENDED TRACKS
-- Overkill II (The Nightmare Continues)
-- Electro-Violence
-- Deny The Cross
The overall album rating for this album will be:
3/5
