Overkill

Killbox 13 (Spitfire)
by Tim Den

…And they just keep on trucking. Guitarist after guitarist, drummer after drummer (though current skinbeater Tim Mallare has been with ’em for a decade), album after album, we all know what to expect from Overkill. Straight-ahead NJ metal with just the right amount of modern hard rock grooves; Blitz sneering like a rabid hound refusing to be put down. As with all their late-’90s releases, there are plenty of classic Fear Factory beats and semi-(dare I say it?) techno rhythms going on, but for all of its stomping and shredding, Killbox 13 shows the band’s age more than the last full-length, Bloodletting, by about three barrels of originality. Blame it on the “new guys,” blame it on the so-so production, blah blah blah. The fact is – if you’ve followed along for this long – you can live without this one.
(22 W. 38th St. 7th Fl. New York, NY 10018)