Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Overkill
Label: Nuclear Blast
Release: 2017
Length: 60:12
Rating: 4.5/5
No, this is no joke, and it hasn’t gone to hell either. That’s a fact. »The Grinding Wheel« is the early overture to one of the best things thrash metal has served up worldwide this year. It comes from the creative minds of legends who will hit four decades in the game in three years’ time. These are the old-school New Jersey thrashers Overkill, who keep cranking out new studio records of high creative value with unbridled fury. Considering the band has settled into a five-piece lineup that hasn’t changed in over ten years, Overkill have clearly found, bit by bit, the right chemistry of exceptional inner harmony and understanding in this lineup.
A few more facts. »The Grinding Wheel« was supposed to come out in mid-November last year, but Overkill decided to push the official release date back to this February, since that was supposed to be better for promoting the album on the North American continent (alongside Nile).
For the new album, all the songwriting and lyrical talents were once again booked by the only original, founding members of today’s Overkill lineup, namely vocalist Bobby Ellsworth and bassist D.D. Verni. It’s hardly supposed to be any other way. »The Grinding Wheel« also keeps the unbridled vehemence of the excellent thrash metal onslaughts released between 2010 and 2014, meaning the albums »Ironbound«, »The Electric Age« and »White Devil Armory«. With »The Grinding Wheel« Overkill haven’t backed off from top speed for a second, tearing through the dizzying vistas of fierce thrash metal aesthetics, still dictated in this new era by the old school of these incredibly well-drilled and seasoned gentlemen. Beneath the tailored thrash metal doctrine, which once again stands untarnished behind the new album, the ghosts of rock’n’roll’s pioneering past stir again, led by the new wave of British heavy metal and the pioneering doctrine of Judas Priest, and over the course of this hour-long record the obligatory dirt of punk hangs around once more, which has always logically united Overkill with Motörhead on joint tours. No wonder the band is sometimes labeled simply as “Motörhead thrash metal”. With »The Grinding Wheel« Overkill thus stay true to themselves and their fans, and their experience is so rich and their routine so great that they’ve developed an incredibly effective recipe for writing, recording and production, one that the band, now well into its mature years, can’t and won’t deny.
»The Grinding Wheel serves up, considering the band’s long track record, an incredible dose of variety in ideas. Ellsworth works like a twenty-year-old stallion full of cocky swagger and fury. The man hits unbelievable highs for his age and develops incredible power with a completely unique vocal expression, which, with a sweep of great authority, has always given this band its own distinctive stamp. Bobby shines. He remains one of a kind: mad, venomous and choked tight like a dog on a leash! Dave Linsk keeps up the brilliance of his lead-guitar antics, the middle instrumental sections switch moods within the songs superbly, the rhythm section holds on to an unbridled supersonic roll, while Verni’s rattling, tearing bass lines cut through the reinforced-concrete steel of destructive riff blasphemy with the ease of a laser. All in one. An album played with exceptional fire and passion that sucks you instantly into the band’s one-of-a-kind theater. From the first second to the last. Without a single quality stumble.
An hour of primal thrash metal eruption from a band that, given its legacy and years in the game, nobody would have held it against even slightly if it had suffered from inconsistency and a lack of ideas on its new albums (right, »Big Four«?). For Ellsworth and company, then, there’s no surrender, no sleep, no retreat. The middle finger pointed at the sky has grown a little more and put on a little more weight. And it stays that way after the band’s eighteenth studio album. One and only. Once again that insolent middle finger, pointed straight at your eye, striking no compromises!
Overkill – Goddamn Trouble (official video):
Lineup
Bobby “Blitz” Ellsworth – vocals
Dave Linsk – guitar, backing vocals
Derek “The Skull” Tailer – guitar, backing vocals
D.D. Verni – bass guitar, backing vocals
Ron Lipnicki – drums
Production
Overkill
Track list
01. Mean Green Killing Machine
02. Goddamn Trouble
03. Our Finest Hour
04. Shine On
05. The Long Road
06. Let’s All Go To Hades
07. Come Heavy
08. Red White And Blue
09. The Wheel
10. The Grinding Wheel
