When one contemplates the frequently cited collapse of thrash metal in the early 90s, it’s important to remember that Overkill never stopped doing their furious thing for a single minute.
Now in their 34th year of active service, the New Jersey skull-rattlers doggedly adhere to the same breakneck approach that made revered classics like Feel The Fire and The Years Of Decay so integral to extreme metal’s evolution.
As ever, Bobby ‘Blitz’ Ellsworth’s banshee screech is Overkill’s most distinctive weapon, but his band’s songwriting scalpel remains sharp and shiny too, both on bludgeoning sprints like Down To The Bone and King Of The Rat Bastards, and more grandiose flesh-stripping exercises like Freedom Rings and the closing In The Name. More of the vicious same, and all the better for it.
