Formed in 1980, Overkill has more history under its belt than most. Part of the nascent American thrash movement, Overkill have, over the course of eighteen albums (eight of which were gathered on 2015’s exhaustive ‘Historikill’ Box set), remained true to the original spirit and intent of the band, although occasional groove metal elements have crept in from time to time. Of the band, only two original members remain – hulking bass monster D.D. Verni and human air-raid siren Bobby ‘Blitz’ Ellsworth – but their vision for Overkill has changed little over the years and the diabolical duo have overcome every challenge life has thrown at them from the advent of grunge and the subsequent commercial decline of metal to an aggressive form of nose cancer. Such issues may have ended a lesser band, but for Overkill (and for Bobby in particular) it is all grist to the mill, informing the lyrics with a strength-in-adversity vibe that is borne out of hard-won experience. Now back with their eighteenth album, the hotly anticipated ‘The Grinding Wheel’, Overkill set out to show the youngsters how it’s done. A blistering thrash tour-de-force, it highlights the bands knack for relentless yet irrevocably memorable thrash anthems in a manner that casually eclipses the band’s recent efforts and reminds the listener that Overkill, a band whose image is forever indelibly marked with the middle finger, are a force to be reckoned with.
The album opens as it means to go on, with the coruscating, punk-infused might of the epic ‘Mean, green killing machine’. Quite possibly the album’s unofficial title, this opening diatribe takes its time to build, with D.D.’s grinding bass defiantly high in the mix before the guitars come pouring in and we’re in purer thrash heaven. Trad-thrash at its best, it takes the arrival of Bobby to the scene, after nearly two minutes of primal guitar fury, to send the song into overdrive, but the wait is worth it and Bobby gets one hell of an entrance. You’d be forgiven for thinking that Overkill had shot their load with such an entrance, but hot on its heels comes the sneering ‘goddam trouble’, a desperate cry that gives drummer Ron Lipnicki time to shine as he unleashes barrage after barrage of double bass artillery. It provides the perfect mechanistic backdrop over which guitarists Dave Linsk and Derek “the skull” Tailer unleash their white-hot riffage and the result is a monstrous metal anthem for the ages with Bobby spitting out lyrics like bullets. Another subtitle for the album, ‘our finest hour’ is a menacing punk-metal shit-kicker that swaggers around a gruelling riff before ‘shine on’ sees the band lower their heads and put the pedal to the metal with all the skull-crushing energy of a band just into their twenties. This is pure adrenalin masquerading as a CD and Overkill seem gleefully oblivious to modern music trends as they reinvigorate their own filthy brand of thrash with a passion that is endlessly heartening to hear. The first half of the album concludes with the dramatic, epic ‘the long road’ the intro to which owes as much of a debt to Iron Maiden as it does to Judas Priest and Dave Linsk clearly had a field day ripping his fretboard up on this one.
The second half of the album kicks into gear with ‘Let’s all go to Hades’ an invitation which would seem unwelcoming in the hands of any other band but, in the case of Overkill, we’re glad to follow in their fiery footsteps. Keeping a firm grasp on the apocalyptically heavy, the band march headlong into the stormy ‘Come heavy’, a future mosh-pit anthem if ever there was one, with its elastic riffs and churning, groove-based verse. Pulling no punches, ‘Red, white and blue’ is a turbo charged nightmare of rampaging riffs and Blitzkrieg vocals whilst ‘the wheel’ is another example of the band’s seemingly endless gift for pitching jet-black riffs against memorable choruses in a way that never sacrifices power and yet remains lodged in the brain. The album ends with the super-long title track and it keeps the level of tension high to the end as the band deal huge riffs over which Bobby delivers what is, arguably, one of his finest vocal performances ever. A gargantuan slab of pure heavy metal, ‘The grinding wheel’ is the perfect finale to an album that steadfastly refuses to put a foot wrong and it will leave you sweat soaked and pumped to the max. To add to the fun, and just to show the boys know how to rock out, a bonus track appears in the form of ‘Emerald’, a nicely-paced Thin Lizzy cover that is deftly given an Overkill-style kicking.
Albums like ‘The Grinding wheel’ remind you of everything that is finest in heavy metal. From the opening blast of ‘mean, green, killing machine’ to the fun-packed Thin Lizzy cover, the Overkill boys whip up a storm that passes in what feels like a heartbeat. Whilst the band are on fire, this is Bobby’s show and his passion and energy shine through in a performance which is worthy of a singer half his age. Packed full of heart, ‘The Grinding wheel’ is Overkill’s finest album to date and one of the best thrash albums of recent years – don’t miss out! 9
