OVERKILL
“The Atlantic Years 1986 – 1994”
Boxed Set Review by Piers Renfree

9/10

Taking their name from the Motörhead album, Overkill are, along with Exodus, Testament, Megadeth, Slayer, Anthrax and a “lesser” known band by the name of Metallica, one of the greatest American thrash bands of the 1980’s. Often called the Motörhead of thrash, due to their unique playing style (which is heavily influenced by punk and the NWOBHM), they have released a total of nineteen studio albums to date. 

Overkill’s debut album “Feel The Fire” was released in 1985, but it was in 1987, with their second album, and first for Atlantic Records, “Taking Over” that things began to improve for the band. This boxed set contains a re-mastered series of the band’s six studio albums that were originally released between 1987 and 1994, during their eight years with Atlantic Records.

With the line-up of Bobby “Blitz” Ellsworth (lead vocals), D.D. Verni (bass), Bobby Gustafson (guitar) & Rat Skates (drums), “Taking Over”, produced by Alex Perialas is a raw sounding, yet very high energy, relentless, moshtasic offering. Overkill show why they are known as the Motörhead of thrash but you can hear the influence of 1970’s Judas Priest as well in here. Bobby Ellsworth’s vocals are for the main part, clear, but he happily uses screams as well and could be the Rob Halford of thrash, and Bobby Gustafson gifts us with some blistering solos. (7.5/10)

During the tour for “Taking Over”, Rat Skates left the band and Bob “Sid” Falck took over duties on the drum stool. The band joined Alex Perialas as producers for 1988’s “Under The Influence”. 

Like Dio with Murray, Maiden with Eddie, Motörhead with Snaggletooth and Megadeth with Vic Rattlehead, Overkill have also had their own mascot, the skeletal bat Chaly, who has graced a fair number of their albums, starting with this one.

The sound on “Under The Influence” seems a little bit tinnier here, than on their previous “Taking Over”, but there is a greater clarity of sound. There’s a bit of an Anthrax influence running throughout this album – not a negative thing at all – and the album seems to be more focused with the song writing and style. (7/10)

Next year’s “The Years Of Decay”, saw a change in the production department, as Terry Date (who would work with Pantera in the 1990’s) took over from Alex Perialas. Here the band stretched their song writing skills, utilising a lot more light and shade than before and moving in a more thrash/groove style. Terry Date’s production fills out the sound of the album, without losing any clarity. The band still lets rip when they want. Sound and style wise, you can hear the influence this album had on Pantera’s “Cowboys From Hell”. (8.5/10)

1991’s “Horrorscope” saw a change in the band’s line-up as Merritt Grant and Rob Cannavino took over guitar duties from Bobby Gustafson. The new pair trade guitar solos here as if they had been in the band since day one. There is less light and shade than on “The Years Of Decay”, but Terry Date’s production is as clear and filled out as it was on the previous album. (7.5/10)

The band’s line-up changed again as Tim Mallare took over the drum stool from Falck and Alex Perialas returned to the shared producer role, with the band for 1993’s “I Hear Black”. The band are fully immersed in the groove metal style now and Tim Mallare’s skin pounding fits naturally with the band’s sound. Alex Perialas production has come on leaps and bounds and you can tell that the band have learned a lot about production from their time with Terry Date. The band’s song writing is at its best so far and this is their best album so far. (9/10)

The bands last album for Atlantic Records 1994’s W.F.O. (Wide Fucking Open), was produced by the band and would prove to be the final album with the guitar duo of Grant and Rob Cannavino. The grunge explosion of the 1990’s had zero impact on Overkill and they made an unashamedly thrash metal album for the die hard head bangers. The production is of the same quality of the previous four albums and the song writing is up to the standard of “I Hear Black” and “The Years Of Decay”. (8.5/10)

Overall, this is a really good collection of albums for fans of thrash and groove metal and you can hear the band growing with each album, not only as songwriters, but as musicians and producers as well. 9/10 for the entire collection.

BOXED SET INCLUDES THE FOLLOWING ALBUMS

Taking Over
Under The Influence
The Years Of Decay
Horrorscope
I Hear Black
W.F.O.

http://wreckingcrew.com/Ironbound/

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