Overkill
Necroshine

THE REVIEW

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about nitpickers who drool out judgments as ultra music connoisseurs, just as those who think music like this is "outdated."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)