Thursday, May 3, 2012

Initial Impressions: Overkill: The Electric Age


Quick question, who is the most consistent U.S. thrash metal band that formed around the time the genre rose to prominence and continues to be active today?  It's probably an answer that is different for a lot of people, but I would think Overkill absolutely has to be near the top of the list.

Overkill has once more put out a great album here.  This is their 16th full-length album, an incredible number for a thrash metal band.  And Overkill has never put out a bad one.  There were a couple of groove metal albums in the late 1990's, but even those were powerful enough to put Pantera to shame.  Overkill shows absolutely no signs of ever slowing down.

Which brings us to a discussion about this, the band's newest albums.  2010's Ironbound was one of the band's best albums in years, which is really saying something.  So I was prepared to be a little let-down on this album.  After all, it happened when Metallica and Megadeth both released their best albums in years, Death Magnetic and Endgame respectively.  That letdown never came in listening to this release.

This album is ten tracks of punk-infused thrash metal fury.  It is absolutely relentless with the kind of speed and intensity that Overkill has become known for over the years.  The energy and riffs coming from the band on this album sound like they should be from a band half Overkill's age.  The individual performances all sound great.

Some bands just never age, Overkill is definitely one of those.  The band just keeps putting out classic release after classic release.

1 comment:

  1. I've been meaning to pick this up, but I still haven't heard it yet.

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