OVERKILL - Relixiv

By Korgüll The Destroyer - Metal for Supper - The Afternoon Edition - 03/22/2005

This trend of old bands going back to their roots has produced some very enjoyable and somewhat nostalgic albums. The last two albums by Kreator were well-executed examples if not a bit derivative, having forgone all progression the band had made (we won’t debate the pros/cons of this here). Nevertheless, a good album is a good album. Unfortunately, it seems to have helped spur this whole resurgence of retro thrash metal. Which brings us to Overkill, one such band looking to take advantage of this situation. Now honestly, this album could have been a real disaster. Not being very familiar with their past work, this album gives me the impression that Overkill at least have a decent grasp of what they are doing. The songs are simple and straightforward, most crunching along at a mid-tempo pace, with the exceptions of “A Pound of Flesh” and “Old School” tearing things up with a sound that is much more thrash than the rest of the album. The latter song was actually very fun at first, having an old-school punk kind of feel to it which made the song very amusing despite its corny “yay metal, yay Overkill” lyrical theme. Listening to the album again after having put it down for about a month, I discovered the song had lost most of its appeal, and that the rest of the album was just pretty dull. I might listen to this everyone now and again, but when I find myself in the mood for some thrash, I think I’ll listen to Kreator instead. I recommend you do the same as well.