Top Of The Heap-Overkill

Time again for Top of the heap. We pick a band and then Andy and I share our favorite album by that band and tell why

Andy's pick-

Megaforce Records 1988

I was just trying to remember the first time I heard about Overkill. I know I was a little behind the times some since I went to private school up until the 8th grade. Our family never had MTV so I wouldn't have known that "Hello From The Gutter" was getting airplay on Headbangers Ball. I think my first introduction was walking into public school sometime in 1989 and seeing a kid wearing an Overkill shirt with a middle finger sticking up. I knew I had to find out about this band and so I did some digging around and before long I was listening to the sounds of one of New Jersey's greatest kept secrets. Under The Influence would be the band's breakthrough of sorts despite the fact that they had been around since the early 80s. With "Hello From The Gutter" introducing the world to vocalist Bobby "Blitz" Ellsworth metal fans had a new voice to call their own. Under The Influence is driven by Blitz who has one of the most unique voices in all of metal. Tracks like "Shred" show of his raspy voice which was so different from what other lead singers had to offer in the scene. Bobby is in my mind the main focus on this album which also saw the band moving toward more of the thrash sound that bands like Exodus were doing around then. Under The Influence is raw thrash with a raw production. It has that gritty sort of feel. Standout tracks for me are of course "Hello From The Gutter" but also "Brainfade", "Drunken Wisdom" (Slayer love here!), "End Of The Line" (again a tad Slayer perhaps?) and "Head First". I love how the band morph thrash metal with an almost punk feel. I'm not really sure if there is any song I don't like. Backed by D.D. Verni, Bobby Gustafson and newcomer Sid Falck Blitz unleashes just a killer thrash disc from "Shred" to "Overkill III (Under The Influence)". It might not be as technical as other releases from Overkill nor as well praised. But it stands the test of time with me and remains a shining moment in metal history.

Metal Mark's pick -

Feel the fire

Megaforce

1985

The first Overkill album I ever heard was "Taking over" when it came out in 1987. I was overwhelmed by them right away and I played that tape quite a lot back in 1987-88. The next two albums "Years of decay" and "Horrorscope" were even better and for years my favorite alternated bewteen those two. However over the last five or six years I was drawn to their 1985 debut "Feel the fire". Indeed a raw but superior early thrash album. Bobby "Blitz" Ellsworth's voice was melting my eardrums on scorching tracks like "Raise the dead" and "Blood and Iron". His unique vocals have always been so much of this band's sound as have the spine shaking bass licks of DD Verni. Overkill have changed guitarists and drummers plenty of times over the years. Yet my favorite Overkill guitarist was definitely Bobby Gustafson because he could shread with a very off the cuff type feel as evidenced by songs like "Blood and iron" and the title track. As for drummers again my favorite Overkill drummer is Rat Skates because while all the action was going on in front of him he was going crazy on the drums and bring booming beats all over the place. All of the parts comes together to form a very original sound on Overkill's debut that I don't think they have topped since. The first "Overkill" song is here with that haunting riff that would spawn sequel songs on subsequent albums, but none of them would top the original. Actually every song here is a classic to me and the album is one I can listen to over and over in it's entirety. It's a tough choice, but "Feel the fire" is my favorite Overkill album.

***What is your favorite Overkill album?