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Rating: When it comes to Overkill, people often stop at those 3/4 works that allowed them to have an exploit within the thrash metal frenzy of the '80s, a time when there was plenty of good music to be found. It is inevitable that when discussing a musical entity, its name will be associated with the best chapters of their discography: yet the importance of one album over another or its quality compared to another may escape notice. "Necroshine" is a classic example of an underrated album, and there are numerous reasons to return to give it the attention it deserves.
We find ourselves in 1999, two years after "From the Underground and Below," considered by many as a "minor" episode in the discography of the five New Yorkers. Starting from the same line-up as the previous CD (Mallare, Comeau, and Marino as the three "accompaniers") and Ellsworth and Verni leading the work, Overkill delivers a devastating CD, superior to any other release from the so-called "big four" during that period (these are the years of "Risk," "Volume 8," "Reload," and "Diabolus in Musica"). All works that, in the opinion of the author, do not quite match the energy and especially the compositional vibrancy of "Necroshine."
Ellsworth and his buddies' tenth studio child is an album of thrash metal with a strong sound and much darker and more defined features than the previous records. A "wall of sound" that gets heavier, in a darkening process embodied by "80 Cycles," capable of emanating unexpected yet interesting doom riffs. Equally interesting are the tracks that precede it and open the CD: the title track with its concrete riffs, and then "My December" and "Let Us Prey," perfect in terms of vocal lines and aggression. Here, headbanging is guaranteed. The entire CD moves along these coordinates of painful and metallic pounding. Tracks like "Stone Cold Jesus," "Forked Tongue Kiss," and "I Am Fear" are manna from heaven for any genuine metal listener.
Frankly, I care little about nitpickers who drool out judgments as ultra music connoisseurs, just as those who think music like this is "outdated." "Necroshine" is a thrash metal album that overwhelmingly outshines the majority of bands and pseudo-bands crowding today's market and Overkill can boast an entire career where the average quality has always been high. They have never sold out (unlike others) and, most importantly, they continue to release consistently strong albums (the latest, "The Electric Age," confirms their worth).
After listening to the recent platter and revisiting much of their discography, I can assert that as far as the big names in the genre are concerned, Overkill, in the last decade, is absolutely on the top step of the podium.
1. "Necroshine" (6:03)
2. "My December" (5:01)
3. "Let Us Prey" (6:41)
4. "80 Cycles" (5:51)
5. "Revelation" (4:40)
6. "Stone Cold Jesus" (5:19)
7. "Forked Tongue Kiss" (4:03)
8. "I Am Fear" (4:30)
9. "Black Line" (4:45)
10. "Dead Man" (4:16)
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
07 Forked Tongue Kiss (04:02)
Long view on the eye a pocketful a pestilence
Got a fistful of momories,a long lost innocence
Hey baby, dead baby devil he embracin' you
With a long forked-tongue-kiss
Suckin' all the life from you
If you need to reach me
I'm broaking one through ten
And if you really need me
Can I get an amen...
Passion on a ??????? gotta get it while it's not
With a self-centered psychopath givin'a lorget-me-not
Rapo me , rape me evrybody gets in line
With a long forked-tongue-kiss
Sucked away the rest of time
Longview in your eye
Seal it with a kiss, you get the...
Long forked tongue kiss
Memory in your fist,you get the..
Long forked tongue kiss
Lay on down in the bad you made
It's a little too late to cry
Or too be afraid
Driven by the high heat, call it love
Driven by the high heat
Of the velvet glove
Call it free-will,call it choice
You know you ain't alone now
There's a swecond voice
When you're not alone
Short view on the eye, a pocketful a' pestilence
With a fistful a' memories, a long lost innocence
B-b-b-baby devil he embracin' you
with a long-forked-tongue-kiss
Suckin' all the life from you
08 I Am Fear (04:30)
You point that little finger out
You got four pointing back at you
It goes evrywhere you go
Does evrything you do
he got roughed up on the inside
Screaming that this ain't fair
And in a block?? moment alone on the outside
Thought that no one cared
You want me, you need me, you have me,I'm yours
So he puts in a call to his only friend
He dials 1-800-FEAR
Then he hid his face inside his hands
You know he wasn't very clear
Said I'm roughed uo on the inside
You know that this ain't lair
And in a new york minute, he felt like a million
Cause he knew somebody cared and said
I have but anation in me for evryone to see
I am but a tribute to mediocrisy
I'm your mother,father,son
I'm a little bit of evryone
Hide in the shadow cast by the sun
In constant misery,I'm fear
You want me,youneed me,you have me,I'm yours
Yes I know you've always loved me
Call me now,between the tears
I know you put no one above me
Call me now,between the tears
I'm fear
Call me now uncover me
Watch me work,it's what I do
call me now uncover me
Watch me work,and watch what I undo
So he broken-up all his fingers
White pulling out his fair
And he broke into a million pieces
No,nobody cared
He was beat-up on the inside
Fighting ' to survive
Spent a long time dyin' no not for tryin'
When you want to feel alive
Seem like total kaos everywhere you burn
When you're wiped out on the inside
You can't catch your breath
And in a black out moment
Alone on the outside,beat him right to dead
09 Black Line (04:43)
What was done is licking me with fire
Do with me,do what you will
I'm cold and sick,I'm cold and sick and tired
Yeah I've had enogh.I've had my kill
And dare I say that I'm walking on today
With no direction ever had
Please forget me,leave me to what will
I'll be with you again at the end of the line
We all walk in a long black line
We all walk in time
We all walk in the black sunshine
We don't know who we are
we all walk in a long black line
We all walk in time
We all walk in the black sunshine
We don't know who we are
What is done still licking me with fire
Do with me,do what you will
I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired
Yeah I've had enough,I've had my kill
And dare I say that I'm missing you today
With no direction ever had
I can't forget you,or leave you to what will
I'll see you once again at end of the line
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