Necroshine

Ok, let’s do this, Overkill’s last in a trilogy of groove metal focused albums, “Necroshine”. Not only that, but here we are at album ten. Regardless of your feelings on the band, you have to admit that it was quite an achievement to reach ten records in just fourteen years since “Feel The Fire”, and was the first thrash metal band to gain this achievement; an achievement that would be broken ten albums later as well. I would be lying to you that I didn’t listen to this album a ton growing up. Unlike some, I never really had a negative bias towards this album, this era and other eras of the band, and the same could be said about other bands I’ve listened to. I’ve never really found the “issues” that some have had for this album, or any other really, to be major and more so minor flaws that aren’t really that “bad” at all. The biggest flaws the record exhibits is more awkwardness in Blitz's delivery on some songs, repetitivity, and some simple riffs and song compositions. Ultimately I think after I’ve given some thought into this, I believe “Necroshine” is probably the second best of the trilogy. I think a good portion of the songs are pretty solid on “Necroshine” but there’s still a small portion of songs that never really leave the realm of being “alright”.

I guess I can start with the positive side first; the opening title track, “Necroshine” kicks ass. The song opens up with this cool ambient buildup with the guitars as this tribal / spinning helicopter blade beat comes in with the drums to kick it into overdrive with this thrashy section and then proceeds to move into a fairly heavy groove rhythmic section which most of the song lingers on. The main riff is pretty simple but the use of Blitz’s vocals leading the instrumentation keeps things interesting and the song itself does offer little moments that change up the composition so it doesn’t really drag on like some have tried to say otherwise. I mean, if you find the song boring, well, sucks for you. “Necroshine” is great and there’s a reason why it has kept showing up on the live set list. “Let Us Prey” opens up with an eerie bass intro only to move into a speedier mid-tempo territory. Same could be said about “Revelations” and “Forked Tongue Kiss” as those songs go for those faster mid-tempo compositions. Speaking of faster, “Necroshine” seems to have put a little gas on the peddle compared to “From The Underground and Below” but nothing as fast as “W.F.O.” or “Horrorscope”. The thrashiest songs on the album can actually be found on the last three tracks “Black Line” which is much more a normal heavy metal meets punk song (a welcome addition outside of the past few groove influenced albums) than anything else, “Dead Man”, and the thrashiest song on the record “I Am Fear” as it mixes around a fairly technical riff set going back and forth between the thrash sections and groove sections. A straight slow groove crawler called “Stone Cold Jesus” (which features another bass opening that sounds awfully like the bass intro in “(Anesthesia) Pulling Teeth”) helps round out the mid section and I think is equally as good as the title track, issuing a catchy groove rhythmic section as it builds up to a well developed and implemented solo, one of a handful to be found on the album.

If you asked me what the weakest tracks would be, I’d point you towards “My December”, “80 Cycles”, and “Forked Tongue Kiss”. The biggest issues I had with these tracks is that they’re far too repetitive and simple for their own good. “My December” features a few riffs but they are fairly simple and not as catchy as some of the other songs on the record. “80 Cycles” is pretty similar in retrospect as it follows this simple bikeresque doom ladened groove riff and Blitz’s general performance is a little awkward in the softer sections he sings on it. “Forked Tongue Kiss” is one of the more “thrash influenced” songs on “Necroshine” but when you compare it to “Dead Man” or “I Am Fear”, it’s clear it’s lacking more of the interesting compositions those tracks have. I do like “Let Us Prey” and I think it follows up better with “Necroshine” than “My December” does but the song goes on a little longer than it really should be so a good minute could have been cut out to alleviate that sense of repetivity. Really, the strongest cuts of “Necroshine” are found in the second half of the record. But I don’t think these lesser tracks are really bad, they’re pretty average but they’re not exactly essential listens unless you’re a big fan.

The production is another strong suit for the album. It’s heavy, it has this dark edge to it, guitars are crisp, bass chunky, and the drums are pounding though aren’t overbearing. People may try to give negative credence to the songs themselves for this era of the band but there’s one thing that we all can agree on is that the music sounds good. The band members do a serviceable job with the material as Tim still gives a well rounded performance drumming though the writing itself seems to be a little too simple, Sebastian and Joe playing an admirable job on the guitars for both of their final appearances on a new Overkill studio album (outside of Coverkill). I may find this era of the band to usually be the weakest of the eras in Overkill's lifetime but I think there’s plenty of great songs that both Joe and Sebastian took part of and provided great musicianship both on studio recordings and in a live setting. D.D. is good as always and “shines” more on here with the bass being more of a central focus that help drive the songs and is allowed the spotlight; for examples: the little melody towards the end of the “Black Line”, in between sections of the guitar riffs in the first half of “Dead Man”, or the start of “Stone Cold Jesus”. Now Blitz, most of the time he’s still a great vocalist, issuing out that sleazy gremlin voice of his with a proficiency most singers struggle with, let alone still sounding like he did in the eighties. But he does come across a little awkward on some of these songs, namely “80 Cycles” and “Forked Tongue Kiss”. That’s just a common issue Blitz has had since “The Killing Kind” up until “ReliXIV” I believe. There is a great moment between Blitz and his sister though as they perform a really nice duet together (a first for the band) then it kicks into overdrive with a pretty fluid solo.

Now at the end of the day, I think there’s plenty to like from “Necroshine”. For the most part, the stronger songs off of “Necroshine” are much better than what’s on “From The Underground and Below” but the songs that are just alright on here are below, outside of “Promises”, what’s found on the previous record. Basically, “Necroshine” has higher highs than “From The Underground and Below” but has lower lows. Luckily for Overkill’s tenth release, the album has much more higher highs than lows. But out of this trilogy, “The Killing Kind” is still the stronger of the three, with both stronger songs and consistency. Joe and Sebastian could have had a better send off for a record of course (and Joe’s vocals could have been better utilized) but it’s not a bad note to leave on. But really, the biggest fault that this album and the others have is the simplistic riffs and repetitiveness. Luckily most of the album does add some moments of more interesting compositions and doesn’t always rely on the repetitivity for that long but those are issues that have plagued this era and would continue to some extent into the next era of the band. “Necroshine” may be toeing the necro-line, but after this album and the turn of the century, Overkill would stop toeing and start walking towards the lively-line with their next release. (sorry for the stupid pun)

Right about here is where the great divide begins. Up-to and including Necroshine, whether the fans liked it or not, there has always been some level of variance, nuance, evolution, or schtick to Overkill’s output since the debut album in 1985. This is the third of what I call the three groove giants, aka the albums that Blitz and co. cranked out full-on groove metal banger after banger prior to it going stale for a whole decade. Some probably do fall off a bit here, but the momentum is pretty strong.

And one-third of that is chalked-up entirely to the title track. Holy fuck! There isn’t a single song on anything they’ve done since Horrorscope that touched “Necroshine.” The total milking of suspense-build in the beginning to its last drip, the faster riffs collapsing into Pantera-isms dropped so deep you can feel Hell’s flames, and the vocal clarity before going absolutely apeshit with outbursts and rhythm? Un-fucking-touchable. The energy this song emulates alone makes it an incredible live experience as well. Having several phases that touch up the ends with some melody is just icing on the cake.

Obviously this sets the bar extremely high for everything else, and though none of it matches that fumer of an opener, the rest of this album is still pretty beefy for what people will give it credit for. Backing vocals have never been the main focus for Overkill, but I think this album perfects them better than most others, if not because of the harmonizing howls. As a whole, they also tuck a decent amount of melody into the cracks, which isn’t exactly what you’re gonna search for at first. There’s a decent balance between doom-like grooves and faster, sharp attacks. What’s also neat is the thumping basswork that shows itself here. I firmly believe that W.F.O. aimed for that, but didn’t perfect it until trying again this time around.

In other words, Necroshine is good at taking the things that made its title track amazing and spreading it across everything else in chunks. That attitude and speed is injected deep into “Forked Tongue Kiss,” hearkening back to the gruffer vocals for a nice touch. “80 Cycles” grabs that guitar tone by the throat and chokes it to the hottest depths, and it coulda been perfect had it not dragged on a lick too much. On the other hand, “Let Us Prey” before that holds some of the best harmonizing and chops on the album, while “Black Line” cranks out some of the best chorus melodies. “Revelation” cakes on some of the cleanest vocals on here while floating on threatening riffs, and that drumming at the end of “I Am Fear”? Fuck me up!

I won’t pretend that there aren’t a few songs that could stand to be trimmed, but this is pretty tight as a whole. I’d say it’s very much one of the most grower-albums that the band ever did, because it took about four or five spins across a long span for me to appreciate everything about this record. For those who have turned this away or haven’t given it a fair spin in a while, I recommend going back and visiting with a careful lens.

Originally written for Metal Inferno

After the big letdown FTUAB was, we find Overkill trying to write a proper metal album with some of the experimental elements their previous record consisted on, especially some bassy and groovy breakdowns. The first thing I noticed when playing this album right after their last one was the guitar tone: sharper and rawer, as if they were trying to get back to the analog tube sound, with lots of treble. Composition wise there’s still a departure from the fast double bass drum speed metal riffing they do best and are best known for, but there’s also the intention to write heavy and mean music at least. This intention wasn’t completely achieved on this record but at least is better that “I Hear Black” or “From the Underground and Below” which are not spontaneous records and sound forced, obliged to sound different just for the sake of it. The mid tempo riffing on this one sounds a little bit more natural and relaxed, selfless if you want.

The first song, Necroshine, begins with a heavy vanilla groove riff that is ok and Blitz’s traditional high pitched raspy voice but he’s singing the “you can take me out of hell, but you can’t take hell out of me” line over a chessy southern rhythm I still can’t completely embrace. The second track “My December” is a little less flashy, begins with a traditional mid tempo thrash beat that melts perfectly with the new kind of riffing, speed never takes over but the song develops nicely through the twin guitar melody interlude that I dare to say show some proggy influence. On the third song “Let us Pray” there are some faster tupa tupa beats but nothing like the aggressiveness this band have displayed before. Even if you dislike some music themes, the riffs or some whole songs; you have to recognize Overkill’s fluid composition skills and inventive. For a band with a ‘tough guy’ image they are pretty nerdy musicians.

Those 3 formulas almost sum up the structures used on the rest of the album that is kind of predictable. One of the last songs though, ‘Black Line’ has a classic punky-surf rock Overkill chorus that breaks the monotony of the record nicely, and the chord progression over the catchy vocal line is powerful. The recording techniques used here show complete expertise in modern digital audio file administration, mixing and mastering and the preference for analog colorations while modeling the strings’ tone shows maturity. Drumming isn’t as aggressive or well thought as it was on the past albums, double bass drum sections are scarce and there are still some techno beats with lots of hi-hat and not enough attack from the snare or the toms but was so perfectly recorded it still highlights the rock n’ roll approach thing. Overall, this album pretended to be a solid back to form and at least theoretically it was, because they brought back the heaviness but they still lack the speed and more malice in riffing.

Lines are still drawn regarding whether Overkill disappeared into the groove metal cesspit or rose gleaming on a groove metal pedestal during the 1990s, but one thing is certain either way - they stuck to it and weathered the decade, for better or worse. I'm rather in two minds over the whole Grooverkill phase. I was a fan of groove and nu metal in my teenage years, listening to Korn, Machine Head, Pantera, and so on, then getting into the NWOAHM with Chimaira, Lamb of God, and their ilk, yet I've rejected some of those groups in more recent years, though still listen to a few albums with pleasure. This means that Overkill albums like 'Necroshine' or 'The Killing Kind' should be right up my alley, but the way that Overkill did groove wasn't the same as those other names. I can't believe I'm going to write this on the Metal Archives, but Overkill are sometimes a bit too heavy to make groove metal work well.

So, yes, this is still a fairly heavy album and I suppose that's good for people who don't really like groove metal. The drums especially are too aggressive and busy to let some of the mid-paced riffs actually groove, which is the important concept here. For groove to work properly, the music needs to be set up fairly simply and sit back in a pocket that is just the right distance between energetic and relaxed; however, with a song like 'Revelation' that sticks at mid-pace through the verses and then accelerates for the chorus, the drums should allow at least one of those riffs to stay settled, yet there are extra over-busy beats thrown in that might be more skillful but not more enjoyable. The same kind of problem stems from the guitar tone, since it sounds fat and down-tuned to make the slower riffs more forceful, although when the band speeds up into semi-thrash parts it lumbers and muddies the sound, making those sections sound samey and causing them to miss their full potential.

That said, Overkill were clearly trying to do more with groove metal than most of the other bands who have now disappeared, so it's understandable if some precision is traded for greater interest. Taking 'Revelation' again, the female vocals are a definite surprise and not at all bad, giving a great atmospheric touch to the moody third verse, while the faster solo section surpasses the levels of musicianship usually associated with the genre. While the solos aren't exactly regular (barely one per song) they do tend to be high points, if usually reverting back to more classic metal styles to integrate them into the songs' structures. Then there are some other weird touches scattered across the album that mostly add to its charm, such as the angry squawks on the title track (David Draiman eat your heart out) or the funk bass solo on 'I Am Fear' (am I the only one who finds that title incongruous with funk?) or the deliberately shitty voice sample before the last chorus of 'Stone Cold Jesus', which would make a (more humorous) return on 'I, Hurricane' a year or two later.

One minor problem that the added detail and creative touches causes for 'Necroshine' is that it makes the songs quite long, needlessly so at times. 'Let Us Prey', at close to 7 minutes, certainly outstays its welcome, while '80 Cycles' also doesn't have the content to justify its length, despite a good attempt to use catchy nu metal riffing as its driving force. Then the plainer songs like 'My December' and 'Black Line' also get wearing in their length, since 5 minutes may be standard for an Overkill song, but good groove metal knows to call it a day as soon as possible, which is mostly a minute earlier. Solving this problem could really have made a big difference for the album, since there is plenty of fat to be cut and a couple of songs that seem like fillers, as well as parts that don't mesh well with the whole of the song. 'My December' is certainly expendable, while I would like to see the creative instrumental section of 'Black Line ' developed independently, particularly as it seems the band had a great power metal lead section and a catchy, amusing idea for the bass solo to have a whistled accompaniment (sounds awful, I know, but I like Helloween).

As it is, the band throw a lot at the album and a good percentage sticks, though it doesn't always form a coherent whole. Apart from DD Verni, none of the band is in great form: disappointingly, Blitz's vocals rarely stand out except for a few moments, so the lyrics are not a major focus. I'm most pleased with the enormous build-up and manic vocals of the title track, the surprisingly great nu metal riffing on '80 Cycles', the massive groove of 'Stone Cold Jesus', and those random creative ideas that manage to make a few lacklustre songs more fun and memorable. This is one of the better mid-period Overkill albums, featuring more hits than misses and more creativity than consistency.

Overkill's tenth release, Necroshine, came at a precarious time within the ranks of the band. Ellsworth had recently been diagnosed with cancer, and honestly didn't know if he would be around for the group's eleventh opus. Out of the three Overkill releases that were dropped in the latter half of the 90's, Necroshine features the most intriguing experimentation, ultimately boasting less of the band's classic identity than even the much-maligned I Hear Black.

To compare this album to its immediate successor, Bloodletting, Necroshine ends up being more memorable due to Blitz's impressive vocal assault this time around. Throughout the 90's he continued to experiment with what I like to call his Horrorscope inflection, with varying results throughout the decade. Regardless, I feel that he finally hit the proverbial nail on the head here, with a thrilling disparity between a deep (for Blitz), gravely approach and his trademark shrieking highs. The title track features a great example of the two styles coexisting, adding a much needed point of reference as far as following the music. The guitars grow old rather quickly on this album due to a laughably bland riff set. Comeau & Marino's swansong is disappointing on many levels, as the band failed to utilize Joe's powerful voice to its full potential here, on top of some of the most banal riffs in Overkill's entire discography. The leads are nearly equally unimpressive, with little staying power or memorability despite making very few appearances, only making their presence felt near the end of "Black Line".

Knee-jerk reaction is to forgive many of Necroshine's shortcomings due to the stagnant metal scene into which it was released. Maybe I'm just not feeling D.D. Verni's writing here, as an earlier record with a similar approach was quite unique and memorable: 1996's The Killing Kind. The chugging riffs seem to mindlessly follow the drum patterns, rarely breaking into anything even bordering on clinical thrash posturing. The almighty groove remained a cornerstone of the band's sound at this point. This results in the decent opener, which, like many Overkill openers, feels roughly two minutes too long; eerily similar to "Thunderhead" from Bloodletting. Still, the monolithic groove and awesome vocals from Blitz keep this one's head above the water. I also enjoyed Bobby's vocal melodies on "My December", and the duet with his sister on "Revelation". On the less impressive end of the spectrum we have the vapid closer "Dead Man" and the earbleed-inducing chorus of "80 Cycles", which may be the worst cut here.

The rest of the tracks fall into the same pitfalls as Bloodletting, lack of memorability results in a shapeless, nebulous mass of filler that accounts for roughly two-thirds of Necroshine. A special mention goes to "Stone Cold Jesus", for opening with nearly as much attitude as "Bold Face Pagan Stomp", but imploding in upon itself in short order, yet another disappointment.

One area Necroshine excels in is in sheer production. The guitars have a massive presence, and a nice equilibrium is reached with Verni's powerful, popping bass lines. Tim Mallare doesn't impress much yet again, even though his kit sounds as great as ever. Bobby's voice isn't as painfully up-front or nasal as it would become on subsequent LPs, so this may be the best produced release until Ironbound eleven years later.

As a final note, I feel I have to address Travis Smith's artwork. It seems that most people hate it, but I love the atmosphere and skeletal version of Chaly he created. Such a shame the music doesn't follow suit, as it would seem the band had nowhere to go but up after From The Underground and Below, but oh how wrong we all were.

While the 1990s (particularly after 1995) could be likened to a thrash metal recession, culminating in a host of uninspired semi-thrash albums that were more concerned with groove and stomp than neck-ruining mayhem, there were a few decent offerings to come out of the older mainstays who perservered through said decade. Overkill is an obvious choice in this regard, as they've always had a consistently wicked and powerful character to their sound regardless to the tempo or complexity factor, and while their 1999 offering "Necroshine" isn't quite the album that will make an old school thrasher explode in his pants, it definitely provides some solid material for those valuing a good combination of aggression and attitude.

This album marks the end of Jon Comeau's tenure with Overkill (he ended up getting a lead vocal gig with Annihilator for a decent 2 album run), and is also the album that his contributions are the least noteworthy. Given that Blitz has always been more of a nasal-drenched hag of a screamer than a husky baritone shouter, Comeau's versatile range definitely gave this album and its two predecessors the necessary lower-end vocal credentials to fit in with Machine Head and Pantera. It's a bit scaled back here and relegated to the background as Blitz's sleasy mutterings dominate the fold, resulting in a sound that is still quite groovy, but actually a hair closer to the gradual move back towards a more thrashing character that would continue for the next couple of albums and climax on "Killbox 13".

Things start off on a bit of an odd note, as the first couple of songs are actually the most overtly groove-oriented and scaled back in character. Both "Necroshine" and "My December" are nestled comfortably in mid-tempo land, sporting riff sets that are quite basic and reminiscent of a rock-style with too much guitar distortion for rock radio. At times things take on a bluesy character, particularly conjuring up some melodic material that wouldn't be out of place on a 70s Sabbath album, though Blitz takes the lead rather than following the guitars. At times things get a bit too groovy and start to get contrived, as with the redundant clunker "80 Cycles", but interestingly enough most of the mid-tempo material is actually fairly intricate, with the absolute highlight being "Stone Cold Jesus" with a bass intro reminiscent of Cliff Burton and a catchy, driving character to it that's almost along the lines of an 80s heavy metal hit with a darker character.

All of that being said, Overkill always does best when they kick up the tempo and kick ass with those size 22 steel-tipped boots that guarantee a tail-bone fracture. This only occurs on a couple songs and it usually occurs after a fairly long period of build up, but when it hits, skulls being pulverized into dust is the end result. Though much of "Let Us Prey" hangs on a slow-going groove riff that is remarkably similar to the one heard on Rainbow's "Stargazer", the middle section slays the vertabrae with the best of them and is heavily reminiscent of those bone-crunching upper mid-tempo riffs heard out of late 80s Exodus. But the only consistent speeder, and it's only moderately above the mid-tempo mark is "Forked Tongue Kiss", smashing heads with a vengeance largely comparable to the faster work that would be heard on "Bloodletting" and loading up on the gang vocals something fierce (arguably the only moment on here where Comeau's presence reaches its full potential).

This is not classic Overkill in the vain of "Horrorscope" or its recent successors "Ironbound" and "The Electric Age", and it makes zero attempts at being so. Don't expect anything fancy, in fact, expect the guitar solos to be few and far between and the riffs to not venture far beyond what was largely commonplace at this juncture in American groove metal. But do expect a well-organized, heavy hitting album that will suffice for anyone looking for punishment below 180 clicks on the metronome. The album cover looks really lame, the image of the flying skull is at its visually weakest, but Overkill manages to keep their head above water here, and musically pull off an album that is a clear improvement from the mixed bag otherwise known as "From The Underground And Below".

I don't hate that Overkill attempted to complement their thrash roots by weaving in and out of groove territory throughout the 90s (and beyond), I just hate that they did it with such a bland and laughable riff set, a flaw that plagues Necroshine for about 90% of its content and reduces it to rubble when placed even against its lackluster neighbors in their catalog. This is an album of ideas, sure, but poorly implemented ideas which, for the most part, result in little more than vapid shovelware. It might not represent the bottom of the trough in the New Yorkers' discography, but it's close enough to muss up I Hear Black's hair. Even the cover is weak, one of Travis Smith's less striking images, a skeletal Chaly re- envisioned into some relatively cluttered collage.

The best component of the album would be its production, which was handled by the band's friend Andy Katz, who also worked with D.D. Verni's other project The Bronx Casket Co. for a few albums. It's sleek, it's clean, it's got punch where necessary, and even if Overkill was not exactly a spotlight act in the late 90s, it mirrors the prowess of bigger bands: mainstream enough for a radio pop/rock audience, but still attuned for the heavy variation of the riffs. I also found that Bobby Blitz wrote some interesting harmonies and vocal lines, he was toiling with different rhythmic patterns that rarely felt lifted from the older records, often humming or singing a melody to throw off the listener. He even brought in his sister Mary to do a few backups, though they felt strangely atonal and unnecessary. The lyrics are a clear step up from a few of the albums leading to this, but there's still a sense that he's often attempting to squeeze words to create quirky, phonetic repetition with a bit of a burly blues inspiration. That said, I would hardly call any of Necroshine's chorus sequences essential or memorable, they simply seem more thought out than the rest of the instruments...

And that is where this album really falls flat for me: the guitar progressions. There are a few pure thrashers tucked into the folds, like "Revelation", but these are no more than passable. The individual rhythm and vocal lines are simply not that sticky or interesting, stock thrash which wouldn't even have earned the right of a B side during the Taking Over era. "I Am Fear" has a fraction more spunk to it, but at the same time it's pretty much predictable groove/thrash you'd expect out of Pantera or their ilk. Then there are tunes like the awful "My December", in which no amount of Blitz' charm can salvage such a banal and pedestrian slew of 2-3 note groove riffs. "Necroshine" is also suspect with its intensely generic grooves that almost make Korn or Roots era Sepultura seem complex in comparison. The incredibly dull, bass-driven doom grooves of "80 Cycles" which is about as fun as shearing corn, and despite the cleaner opening atmosphere of "Let Us Prey", it too lapses into a creative coma replete with connect-the-dots mid-paced thrash riffs that can't have taken Overkill more than 20 seconds to write.

It's sad to me that the catchiest thing on here is probably the pseudo punk anthem "Black Line", if only for the interplay of the vocal melodies with the very basic muted picking sequences, and even that doesn't have a quarter of the charisma of "Hello from the Gutter". What's even sadder is that, where so many of the group's contemporaries got called on their mistakes in the 90s, like Slayer or Megadeth, Necroshine seems to have been handed a 'free pass', when it's nearly as lame. Again, it was not a sore spot for me that the band were broadening their sound so much as they were writing such uninspired material, and this remains one of their worst albums in memory, the ringed residue of many a beer-sweat marring the surface of its inevitable function.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

After putting out two inconsistent and uninspiring albums, Overkill finally manage to get their shit together. Now this album, isn't quite a return to thrash form as a majority of the songs on here are groove metal, but they finally manage to put out a groove album that isn't dull and boring. Another thing to notice on this album is that is that it has a much more dark and evil style to it. On this album, Overkill not only manage to succesfully modernize their sound here, but their actually starting to develope and evolve more as a band.

It's pretty hard to pick out any stand out tracks here considering that it's more consistent, but the title track, Revelation, and Forked Tongue Kiss have to be my favorite songs on here. All three of these songs manage to have the right balance of thrash and groove along with some nice ass riffs and drumming. 80 Cycles is probably the worst song on here, but even this song is pretty decent.

If you're into a mix of thrash and groove with a more dark approach, then get this album, as it's defiantly worth your money. I bought this album as a double-pack along with From The Underground And Below. If you can find it, get the double-pack so you don't have to worry about paying to much money for either album. However, I would recommend getting the classic albums first. Especially, if you're a first time listener.

With this album Overkill helps keep thrash alive after their 7 year or so slump. They proove with this album that a popular thrash band from the United States in the 80's can still make great albums. Merits of this album such as great consitency, moments of greatness, loads of attitude, and it being the heaviest Overkill album up to the point of this album(1999), make this the perfect come back album.

There a few clear highpoints of this album, like the great opening track Necroshine and Fear His Name. Songs like Black Line and 80 Cycles offer something Overkill hasn't done before, or hasn't done in depth before. With all this variety though the album is amazingly consitent with its new sound. Each song on this album is good, while some are much better than others, like the ones I mentioned. The band repeatidly makes track after track good or great in the style and structure of the album. The structure is the new Overkill sound, which is heavier and combines the speed of Horrorscope. The vocal change is noticable, Blitz sings much more raspy or harsh than the earlier Overkill records (Feel the Fire to Horrorscope).

The highpoint of this album is the great opening track Necroshine. After the progressive/ambient intro to the song, the song pulls you right into headbanging with a great thrashy riff thats pretty heavy for Overkill. The guitars on this album are very catchy and memorable, as is the chorus. Its stays in your head and never looses its appeal. Blitz sings with more attitude on this album than Mr. T telling a fat kid to do a pull up. The lyrics have attitude and Blitz delivers them with authority and confidence. This raspy harsher vocals fit this new Overkill style well. Tim Mallare prooves his worth as a drummer on this song and album. His drums can get very fast at times, are always heavy and loud, and work well with the rest of the music, being in rhythym with the rest of the band. The other song worth mentioning is done in a similiar style to Necroshine, but just a bit faster, is I am Fear. This is one of the more faster songs on the album, and it packs the most punch. Its consistent from begeinning to end, the guitar and drums are a bit choppy witch helps the vocals on this song. The vocals here are done in short fast bursts, but with little space between each phrase. The speed of these burst phrases almost gives it a rhythym. Its just a unique vocal style for Overkill and they do it well. The lyrics of this song rule to, its mostly about hurting some dude severly, and when Overkill sings about destruction and violence its always good. The last song that needs mention is Black Line. Its very different for Overkill, mainly because at some points its gets really happy sounding. Kinda like an 80's thrash song meets and 80's hair metal song. There is a cheery foward looking chorus and some amusing whistling. This is more of a Novelty song for Overkill, but its still good enough to make it more memorable than a Novelty song. These three songs are the highpoints of the album.

This is probally (of Overkills new records with their new sound) on par with Killbox 13. Its heavy and fast( with very few slow melodic parts like on Dead Man), full of consistency from Necroshine to Dead Man. If your a fan of their older stuff this is definatly different, but recognizably Overkill. The bass makes a big presence on this record as opposed to their others. D.D seems like he wanted to make the bass more than just to play along with the guitar, but give it its own spotlight on a few songs. There are no bad songs on this album, all are good. If all the songs reached the level of Necroshine, this would be Overkills best album. Other than that its an amazing album. Overkill prooves that U.S Thrash bands from the 80's can still keep thrash alive and not sell out.

Here on this album, we can see a darker side to Overkill developing. The riffs are heavier than the previous album, and the songwriting takes on a more menacing tone, that is definitely a welcome thing.

The songs here are for the most part pretty strong, though sometimes pretty similar sounding. Necroshine, the opening track, is pretty damn great - it moves along at efficient speed, bludgeoning all that stand in its way in the vein of New Machine or Horrorscope. My December is a bit weaker, but overall still quite good. Most of the songs on here are in this vein: Let us Prey, Eighty Cycles, and Revelation are also pretty similar. Overall decent and enjoyable stuff, though. If you like one, you'll like 'em all.

The song that definitely stands out is Black Line, which has the catchiest verses since Where it Hurts. This is probably the best song on here, though it's also the least morbid, oddly enough. It's a fun song that has its moments of thrash, and a killer set of solos, oh and that random needle-scream moment in the verses. Subtle, yet triumphant.

Overall, this is an average album by Overkill standards - they really don't go too badly wrong, and this one is worth picking up even though it's no Years of Decay.