Overkill is a thrash metal band from the USA forming in 1980 and, to date, has enjoyed an incredible forty-three-year career – releasing a phenomenal twenty studio albums! An achievement no other thrash metal band has achieved (as of 2023). Overkill became a worldwide household name during the eighties with landmark albums such as ‘Under The Influence’ (1988) and ‘Years Of Decay’ (1989) – and have never looked back. Led from the front by lead singer Bobby “Blitz” Ellsworth, Overkill has played venues worldwide and performed at many (if not all) of the biggest metal festivals in the world. The band have stayed true to the essence of thrash metal throughout their entire career, not giving a fuck about changing musical trends such as grunge! The Big Four of Thrash – Anthrax, Megadeth, Metallica and Slayer – should really be the Big Ten, including Testament, Metal Church, Flotsam And Jetsam, Exodus, Death Angel and, of course, Overkill! These ten bands changed the face of metal music, introducing a harsher, more aggressive sound than the traditional heavy metal of bands such as Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, and Saxon. Overkill are icons, legends, and pioneers – entering the forty-third year in their illustrious career with their new album ‘Scorched’…
…featuring ten songs across fifty-one highly addictive minutes! It has been four years since the world felt the Overkill ferocity – has the wait been worth it? You bet your fucking arse it has! Any wait is worth it for new Overkill material, the thrash maestro’s one of the most consistent and enduring bands ever – their latest album coming to life with the title song ‘Scorched’. And a glorious guitar-led first-minute lead into Blitz’s trademark vocal shrill and the band’s weighty thrash metal style. ‘Scorched’ (the song) is a pace-changing thunderstorm, from all-out pace to mid-tempo foot stomping and everything in between! And at over six minutes in length, ‘Scorched’ (the song) is also the longest song on the album. Overkill are back! And doing what they do best!
Adopting a very heavy stance, the album powers on with the speedy ‘Goin’ Home’, Overkill launch into a tsunami of thrash – the kind of tsunami they’re famous for! Aggressive and brutal yet melodious too, the band are in devastating form, roaring through ‘Goin’ Home’ at a fair rate of knots, sending every metalhead around the world into head-banging heaven. Overkill, maybe four decades old, but have lost none of their desire and energy, delivering both with more gusto than many newer bands around today! ‘The Surgeon’ returns an old school flavour Overkill, the brash guitar sound, driving drums, and aggressive vocal snarl are all trademarks of a band that has remained at the forefront of the thrash metal genre for over forty years. And with a menacing slow burn into life, ‘Twist Of The Wick’ displays an incredible turn of speed, racing on at high velocity, turning mosh pits into a frenzied state of arousal! Overkill, banging heads with vim and vigour, are just getting started – for ‘Scorched’ (the album) has got so much more to offer!
And up next, the menacing yet highly catchy ‘Wicked Place’ – marching on with a majesty not heard previously. The band are in a mid-tempo groove here, appealing to the traditional heavy metal brigade as well as the thrashers – fans of both genres finding something within ‘Wicked Place’ to please! Striding on with a head-held high attitude, ‘Won’t Be Coming Back’ maintains the album’s recent traditional/thrash metal meld, hammering the senses with a fairly old school “foot on the monitor” feel. Is Overkill mellowing with age? I highly doubt it! They’re just expressing their prowess at delivering melodic thrash metal that appeals to a much wider audience than their root fanbase! And with a massive slow down in pace, power and heaviness, ‘Fever’ moves the album into a sinister soundscape, the band slowly burning towards a mighty foot stomp! Swinging back and forth as ‘Fever’ progresses, Overkill deliver a breather – the calm before the storm if you like – for what is to come!
For ‘Harder They Fall’ comes to life with an explosive burst of energy, the album becoming a brutal firestorm of ferocity! ‘Harder They Fall’ is fast, very fast – the band proving they’ve not mellowed with age. Local emergency services are going to be awash with calls about neck injuries – the headbangers of the world are suffering muscle damage from headbanging so hard! Yet with two songs left to go, no one is phoning anyone just now – we metalheads are diehards! Let’s finish the album first. ‘Know Her Name’ is an infectious and high-energy gallop of thrash come traditional heavy metal – a little bit like earlier but much heavier! Overkill has always done its own thing, not bowing down to trends or changing fashions, so if the band wanna do traditional metal, that’s fine by me. But then again, anything Overkill does is fine by me. They are, have been, and always will be, one of my favourite thrash metal bands. Bringing the album to a close is ‘Bag O’ Bones’ – another romping stomp to attract more than just thrashers to the band’s music. ‘Scorched’ (the album) has been a glorious journey of thrash, with a heavy dose of traditional heavy metal thrown in. Exactly the style of metal I love, and I’m sure you will too!
Overall, an aggressive and ferocious gallop of thrash metal to get the adrenaline pumping, heads banging and fists punching the air.
TRACKLIST
Scorched
Goin’ Home
The Surgeon
Twist Of The Wick
Wicked Place
Won’t Be Coming Back
Fever
Harder They Fall
Know Her Name
Bag O’ Bones
Overkill: Facebook
Release Year: 2023
Label: Nuclear Blast Records
Category: Album
Country: USA
Reviewed by Iron Mathew for Frenzy Fire and Metal-Roos.
