FUCK ME!
*Cough*
Sorry about that. This is going to require some context...
Overkill are a HIGHLY respected thrash metal band from New Jersey who have been going since 1980. They have been rather prolific, to put it mildly: White Devil Armoury, the album this track is from, is going to be their seventeenth studio album (or eighteen, depending on whether you count their debut EP as a full release or no: the band do, but I don't, as I count albums as full releases, not EPs). For reference, no other thrash metal band, to my knowledge, has managed to reach seventeen studio albums: the second highest record, to my knowledge, is sixteen albums, currently held (as of this week: their new album literally came out yesterday in the UK!) by the German beer metal thrashers (basically, thrash metal with lyrics relating to beer) Tankard. The third highest record, to my knowledge, is fourteen albums, currently held by both Megadeth and Sodom (although Megadeth may very well take the record away from Sodom: they're currently working on material for their fifteenth album, although I suspect we won't be seeing that until mid-2015 at the earliest...). Several thrash bands have made it into the double figures, but, at the rate they are going, Overkill might be the first to make it to twenty studio albums.
And, for the most part, I don't get how Overkill have made it this far and gained the acclaim they have.
I have listened to the band's last two albums (Ironbound and The Electric Age) as many times as I can, but, despite the thrash metal scene in general reacting to them as if they are the second coming of thrash metal jesus, my only thought has generally been "It's not bad...but why's everyone losing their shit over this?" To me, those albums, while certainly among the most ferocious and aggressive thrash metal to have appeared in a good while without mixing in influence from death metal, just lacked in solid hooks for the songs. Which might be it: thrash metal fans aren't exactly known for being friendly to stuff with anything resembling a hook, which is somewhat daft logic when you realise that every song needs a hook to be memorable, even if it's not a traditionally catchy hook in the sense of being poppy...
But I'm getting off topic.
Because of my generally unimpressed reaction to the band's last two albums, I was vaguely expecting this album to be along the same lines. I thought this album would be just another of those albums which I keep an eye on hoping to see the band drop the ball and get turned upon by the notoriously unforgiving thrash metal crowd (seriously, guys, how long are you going to hold everyone in the Big 4 except for Slayer in contempt just for releasing an album that wasn't an all out thrash album while letting less well known bands get off scot free for doing the same kind of thing? It pisses me off every time I see you do it, have some fucking consistency when you give bands scorn for doing stuff!), later see everyone else get excited over it and triumph it as a new classic, roll my eyes, try to explain to anyone willing to listen to me that speed and ferocity isn't everything in metal music, usually bringing up Judas Priest, Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath as fine examples of bands who prove the thrash crowd wrong, then go find someone else to talk to because the thrashers treat me as a dumb idiot just because I'm actually pointing out something that is true (case of point, doom metal: think Black Sabbath with less blues influence to their sound and you pretty much have summed up the whole doom metal genre).
Then I heard this track.
...I refer you back to my opening sentiments.
Let's start with the link to the lyric video. As the music video is set to unlisted, I can't directly provide the video here, so I shall provide a link here. Seriously, music labels, stop making your lyric videos and music videos unlisted, it makes it look like you're trying to prevent an album from being promoted and gets people like me worried that the album is not actually a good album because you look like you're trying to hide it!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZD8VIyj95Q
Anyway, let's look at the song itself!
As I mentioned earlier, Overkill's had a habit of writing really ferocious and aggressive thrash metal for a while now, so you'll be rather unsurprised to know that they keep this habit up nicely here. They do seem to lean a bit too close towards the cliche in modern day thrash metal of double bass abuse with the drumming on this song, but I'm usually not one to complain about this unless it's done over the course of a whole album, so I am hesitant to say that this is a big issue with me at the minute due to it only being one song. If this is a sign of the typical drumming on the album, then I see this being an issue when the album actually comes out, but, for the one song, it's perfectly fine, if a bit of a cliche. Seriously, let's look at the checklist for writing modern thrash metal: double bass drumming (check), bass guitar that mostly follows the guitars, but is played quickly (...nope, not here!), fast played, uncomplex guitar riffs (...eh, kind of) and vocals in the vein of Chuck Billy, Paul Baloff or Tom Araya (HELL NO).
That's the thing that surprises me, when you consider my previously mentioned dislike of Overkill: it's hard to say that Overkill do anything especially typical for thrash standards, as they actually don't! They're a more punk influence take on thrash metal, but not in the same way that leads to crossover thrash metal: it's just the band wears their punk influence on their sleeves in a way that is ever present across their sound, but the band injects it into the typical thrash sound in a way that...I can't quite put it in a way that will describe Overkill's sound very well, so let me put it this way: Motorhead were basically the genesis of speed metal, but they did it through basically playing heavily downtuned and distorted punk and rock n roll. Overkill are basically Motorhead if they had upped the ferocity, added more metal influences to their sound and got a more punk influenced Brian Johnson soundalike to sing instead of Lemmy.
...Huh, that's actually not a bad way to describe Overkill, now I think on it. Why do I not like these guys again, that sounds awesome on paper!
Oh yeah...they don't write great hooks for their songs. Shame, that would be a really...wait, the hook on this song is actually really good? As in, actually memorable on first listen? HALLELUJAH! THRASH JESUS, I HEAR YOU CALLING!
*Cough*
Sorry about that.
But seriously, the issue I mentioned earlier about the band not writing strong hooks? You'd not think it if you heard this track: it's got a pretty awesome chorus! You could sing it pretty easily after the first listen through of the song.
Since I think I need to stop sounding like I'm gushing about these guys, let me step back a bit and admit that there are a few issues with the song which I need to point out. The first is the lyrics: they're not exactly shining examples of lyrical brilliance. It's probably excusable due to the fact that thrash metal generally isn't known for having brilliant lyrics (heck, metal in general isn't known for having brilliant lyrics), but Overkill probably provide one of the weirdest bits of lyrics from an 80's metal band I can think of, as they resort to using initials in the pre-chorus that will sound suspiciously like text speak for stuff (I'm probably safe in assuming "G D M F" stands for "God Damn Mother Fucking", but "G D M" on it's own? In the context of the song's lyrics and the absence of the "F", I'm not entirely sure what the "M" must stand for, as "God Damn Mother" doesn't sound right and I can't think of another "M" word that fits in the context of the lyrics...anyone willing to explain that one for me? Also, YOU'RE A THRASH METAL BAND! WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU CENSORING YOURSELF WITH TEXT SPEAK?). I know text speak is a part of modern day society in the same way that having a porcupine stuck up your arse for several years would become a typical part of your everyday life, but this feels like a really odd concession for a band who were around before mobile phones were (yes, younger readers, there was a time when mobile phones did not exist. We also had the wonders of cassettes, tape players, the VHS and dial up connection internet when I was growing up...you don't know how lucky you are to have grown up with downloads, CD players, Blu-Ray and wireless internet, it's a hell of a lot more convenient by comparison!) and kind of has me wondering whether the band wanted to put something else down for the lyrics, but changed them at the last minute. Either that or somebody involved in the songwriting in the band has been listening to too much modern music...
The second is Blitz's vocals. I gotta be honest, his vocals are a love it or hate it kind of thing in much the same was as Steve Souza's are, and I'm mostly on the hate it side. No offence intended, but I don't find higher voices suit thrash metal very well, ESPECIALLY when they are somewhat nasal as well. While I can enjoy Blitz's vocals when I'm in the right mood, they usually just grate on my nerves. That said, I will give Overkill credit for the fact that I can't think of anyone else who I would want to hear singing their stuff (I don't see Chuck Billy making Overkill better, if you get the point I'm making), so credit to the band for making Blitz's vocals actually fit their sound instead of just writing something that any thrash vocalist could sing. Exodus could learn a thing or two about doing this...
The third is the production. This has been a bit of a recurring problem on the previous two Overkill albums, but, for the benefit of those not aware of it, I'll explain: the production sounds suspiciously mechanical. With Ironbound, it actually worked due to the title track being from the perspective of mechanical killers and the production gave the album a rather cold feel to it that was actually rather fitting. But, despite dialling it back since then, it's not been dialled back enough to stop you from noticing it. Which isn't a big issue, but it will be a problem if you aren't a fan of modern production.
Those issues, luckily, don't impact the song itself much, which, as I've mentioned earlier, is actually pretty good! I wouldn't call this a flawless song at all, but, if you're into thrash metal, this should be a track you'll really enjoy! If not...well, it depends on what you usually listen to, but I'd say this is worth a shot if your taste in music does point towards potential interest in thrash metal music (so, punk, faster styles of metal and stuff like that) and probably not if it isn't (so, folk, country, pop, opera, rap...).
Final Rating: 8 Out Of 10
A really good song that is only let down by a few relatively minor flaws. Thrash metal fans should really like this and metal fans in general are encouraged to give this a shot. If you're not a metal fan, then...well, first, why did you read this review, with all due respect? And you're advised to skip this one!
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