Overkill
The Grinding Wheel

If I were asked to describe a band like Overkill in one word, the choice would be quite simple. Unstoppable.

Since 1985, Overkill has relentlessly pursued their career, with many people even venturing to say that they have never made an album below expectations. Of course, we’re not talking about masterpieces to be remembered, but those albums now labeled as "failures" have seen a massive positive reevaluation in recent years, like "W.F.O.", "The Killing Kind", or "From The Underground And Below".

True pillars of the Thrash movement, therefore, and perhaps one of the most prolific mainstream bands in terms of releases. Where Metallica faced a crisis between the mid-90s and the second half of the 2000s, where Megadeth released controversial albums like "Risk" and "The World Needs A Hero", and other bands like Annihilator struggled to return to their roots, Overkill continued cutting through. Never a misstep, never a change in sound, nothing of the sort.

Unstoppable war machines. Finding oneself in the early 2010s and hearing albums like "Ironbound" and "The Electric Age" can't help but satisfy those who miss that dose of Thrash Metal that occasionally needs to be dusted off. Not that these recent years have seen this genre disappear from the scene, besides the bands mentioned in the previous paragraph, there were Death Angel, who also rarely disappoint, Slayer, and Testament. However, it seemed that someone was still missing from the call.

I experienced the anticipation of the release of the new work by the American band with sensations I had never felt before. I knew that after previous works, it was (almost) impossible to expect something that would demolish my expectations, so let's say I also felt a certain confidence... But never say never.

Listening to the new "The Grinding Wheel" literally floored me. A perfect production in every single detail, as is normal to expect from Andy Sneap, who works with groups like Accept, Machine Head, Onslaught, Cathedral, and Kreator to name a few. Returning to the record, tracks like "Mean, Green, Killing Machine" placed at the opening can only dispel all my doubts, mentioning the central break with singer Bobby Ellsworth delivering an excellent vocal performance, and with the energetic "Our Finest Hour" the discussion does not change one bit. Songs like "The Long Road" and "Goddamn Trouble" have choruses that are easier to memorize, with the latter proving to be a devastating live song, already tested by the group in the days following the album's release. We find all the features that made Overkill famous in the title track, bass consistently kept at high levels, Ellsworth's tone more acidic than ever and a drum that doesn’t seem to stop, all summarized in almost 8 minutes of sheer power. Curious is the choice to put a cover of Thin Lizzy's "Emerald" as a bonus track, played to perfection, but which didn’t fully convince me. Summarizing, the only criticism that can be made of this new work by the band is the fact of having placed too many central breaks in the middle of the songs that fail to characterize them properly, as in "Let's All Go To Hades", but these are really small things.

Eighteen studio albums and they are still here, intent on not hanging up their guitars yet, and after listening to "The Grinding Wheel", I can’t even imagine asking them to do so. Want to try asking them? At your own risk...