Flashback CD Review #11 - Overkill - ReliXIV

[TageRyche]

I originally wrote this review for the Rock is Life.com website in 2005.

 

Overkill

ReliXIV

Spitfire Records - 2005

http://www.wreckingcrew.com

 

What's The 4-1-1?

The New Jersey thrashers are back with their 14th full-length studio album filled with their trademark brand of metal.

 

Genre

Metal

 

The Good

The music on the album is prime thrashing metal. Between Ellsworth's biting vocals and the powerful musical attack, I was taken aback. You know what you are going to get, to a degree, with any Overkill album. It's not a bad thing either. Crisp guitar lines, superb work by the rhythm section and vocals ripping your head off. I really enjoyed the vocal delivery of "Loaded Rack". Bobby "Blitz" Ellsworth can just machine gun spit vocals out like nobody's business. What's different here is that the songwriting is, to me, vastly improved.

The single "Wheelz" is excellent. It's a radio worth track without selling out to get that airplay. The las four songs on the album really elevate the CD for me. They are the best tracks on the release and they fully encapsulate what Overkill both is and can do in their music. I've already mentioned "Wheelz" but "The Mark 2:14" and "Play The Ace" can have anyone banging their head and screaming their head off. The band acknowledges their 20 year history with the closing track called "Old School". It remains crushing and doesn't make one roll their eyes with yet another "Hey, we've been around for a long time" career retrospective type of song.

 

The Bad

Three of the songs on the album just leave me cold. I didn't find anything to make me just die to listen to them again. 

While this doesn't have anything to do with the music, I noticed that there were more instances of lyrics in the song not matching up with the lyrics in the CD booklet than I normally see.

 

The Verdict

I LOVE the band's 1989 album The Years of Decay. My love for that CD has been a problem for each successive album Overkill has released since then. I've never found more than a couple of songs on each album that came close to matching the creative heights of that CD. I always felt that the band had far too many "filler" tracks rather than really good songs. I'm very happy to report that is no longer the case. This album has grabbed me by the throat and throttled me until I said "Uncle!" It's a superb dose of thrash metal, and we all can do with a little bit of thrashing in our lives.

 

Did You Know?

Drummer Tim Mallare left the group soon after the release of this album and was replaced by former Hades drummer Ron Lipnicki. Bassist D.D. Verni and vocalist Bobby "Blitz" Ellsworth are the only remaining original members of the band after more than 20 years together.

 

Rating:  4 out of 5

[Scandal 2000]

Overkill is probably my favorite thrash band of all-time. These guys should have been bigger. The only album they ever did that I didn't care for was "I Hear Black." I agree that "The Years of Decay" were probably their peak or "Horrorscope." I also recommend some of their early stuff like "Feel the Fire" or "Taking Over."

[RJhog (Admin)]

If I remember correctly, The Years Of Decay is the album that you recommended for me.  I haven't forgotten, I just haven't gotten it in my Wish List on Amazon yet.  Between that and this review, you have me interested in hearing some Overkill.