Overkill

From the Underground and Below (CMC)
by Scott Hefflon

“How many Overkill albums does the world really need?” is a pretty valid question. While chuckling up their hipster sleeves, frogs with princely delusions are more than welcome to leap the lily pad away from metal when their fashion directors dictate. Overkill’s been bombarding human ears with power/heavy metal since before there were so many damn names for it. In many ways, Overkill’s actually gotten better without having to change significantly. The addition of guitarists Sebastian Marino and Joe Comeau on The Killing Kind breathed new life into a band best known for merely refusing to go away.

While much of Overkill’s likability comes from monster production (almost a prerequisite these days) and DD Verni’s signature bass thunder, there’s still a banality in the music that no amount of moshing can disguise. They still sound kinda like early Testament (sans acoustic wankering), with early Metallica-lite riffery, and even though Bobby Blitz has a distinctive-as-all-hell snarl, I still chuckle at it after a while.

From the Underground and Below is generous enough to offer up varied tempos (thrash, plod, groove, stomp, and shuffle being your main choices), but even as the bass rolls across the sky like a bad storm, punctuated by bolts of guitar, there’s a lack of memorable guitarwork to sink yer metal teeth into. It sounds heavy while it’s on, but I doubt guitarheads around the world are gonna reach for their axes saying, “This rocks! I’m not leaving my bedroom (not that I usually do anyway) ’til I learn to play this album from beginning to end!” And that, to me, is one of the most important requirements of metal: Keep the shaggy-headed hooligans head-bangin’ in their bedrooms and off the streets.