Welcome to another edition of From My Collection. Right now, (not including tomorrow night’s pre-fest) we are roughly 48 hours away from the commencement of Milwaukee Metal Fest 2024. Rebooted last year by Hatebreed frontman/all around entrepreneur Jamey Jasta, this year’s edition of the fest is bound to be its most diverse yet, featuring sets from the likes of Blind Guardian, Testament, Autopsy, Doro, and today’s featured band, Overkill, just to name a few. To commemorate the upcoming festivities, today’s retrospective essay takes us back in time to ’87, when the “Mean Green Killing Machine” known as Overkill took over with their sophomore strike, Taking Over.
By 1987, Overkill had come a long way. Their debut album, Feel the Fire (1985), became widely revered among the underground, subsequently earning the band a coveted opening slot on Slayer’s infamous Reign in Blood Tour. If you weren’t familiar with the speed-crazed, streetwise attitude of Overkill already, you sure were by ’86. The band spent the better part of ’86 laying to waste one town after the next. Indeed, they were “Rotten to the Core”, and amidst the burgeoning commercialization of thrash, that wasn’t going to change their frenzied ways.
I bring up this commercialization because while it was still in its infancy, it is important to mention. By ’87, Metallica had wrapped up touring behind Master of Puppets, which saw them catapult from opening for Ozzy Osbourne to headlining the very same arenas by the end of said touring cycle. Meanwhile, Slayer, Megadeth, and Anthrax were all starting to receive rampant airplay on MTV. Atlantic saw the tide turning (no pun intended) and quickly absorbed Megaforce Records. With it came their thrash-heavy roster including Testament, Raven, and of course, Overkill.
This changing of the guard meant Overkill’s follow up to Feel the Fire would receive far more distribution and push than its independently released predecessor. It’s almost as if the band took this into consideration when titling and shooting the cover for Taking Over. Just the name itself screams thrashing mad defiance, as if to imply every other mosh minded band of the era were mere posers by comparison. Couple this with a cover depicting four ragtag headbangers from the Garden State with guns pointed directly at you and yeah, no self respecting thrasher was going to ignore this album.
Taking Over opens with the absolutely unforgiving “Deny the Cross”. Framed by its grandiose layered guitar intro, the song quickly takes us on a head first descent into the abyss. Admittedly, it doesn’t sound nearly as hellish as what say Slayer and Possessed were conjuring at the time, but it is a full steam ahead thrasher boasting everything you’d want from a rager of this nature. The riffs are breakneck and the drumming equally so. Vocally, Bobby Blitz alternates between his early pseudo-Bruce Dickinson delivery and his signature shrieks that would become the standard from Under the Influence (1988) onwards.
“Wrecking Crew” keeps the thrashing and bashing going in unrelenting no frills fashion. Although not directly addressing such subject matter, it’s no surprise this one became an unofficial mosh pit anthem with its destructive lyrical content. Indeed, it fits the same musical and lyrical ethos of other similarly natured cuts of the era like Anthrax’s “Caught in a Mosh”, Whiplash’s “Stage Dive”, and so forth. To this day, “Wrecking Crew” remains a staple of Overkill’s live sets, and for good reason. Thrashers young and old are guaranteed to raise pure hell as soon as that lead riff kicks in.
Admittedly, “Fear His Name” is a bit of an outlier in the context of Taking Over. While Overkill had mostly abandoned the traditional/speed metal leanings of Feel the Fire, those NWOBHM-esque tinges still reared their regal head from time to time, especially on cuts like this one. The lyrics and riffs of “Fear His Name” sound less like that of a thrash band from ’87 and more like that of a Maiden worshipping power metal band from ’84. Does it feel out of place? Sure, but I accept it as a welcome palette cleanser amidst the brutality.
If “Fear His Name” is the most dated cut on Taking Over, then “Use Your Head” is the most ahead of its time. Sure, upon first listen, its a by the numbers thrasher. However, I implore you to get a load of its thuggish, midtempo attack and chug-laden riffage. If the production didn’t sound so ’80s, one could easily confuse this for a groove infused thrasher straight out of the early ’90s. It’s knuckle-dragging bruisers like this one that only further my point that Overkill was the original groove metal band, Exhorder and Pantera be damned.
Side A closes with a re-recorded version of one of the earliest songs in the Overkill repertoire, “Fatal If Swallowed”. What can best be described as a perverse thrashing love/lust song, “Fatal” was first heard on the band’s self titled 1985 debut EP. While the composition of the song remains largely the same, this version intensifies the tempo and production, making for what is, as far as I’m concerned, the essential version of “Fatal”. It’s one of those extremely rare cases where the re-recording overshadows the original, yet here we are.
As we flip over to side B, we’re greeted by one of my personal favorite Overkill songs of all time, “Powersurge”. As simplistic and straightforward as that lead riff is, it manages to get my blood pumping every time. I especially love how it’s introduced by bassist D.D. Verni, only to then be echoed by guitarist Bobby Gustafson. Similar to “Wrecking Crew”, it’s one of those pissed off ragers that feels tailormade for the pit, especially when that colossal breakdown kicks in. In an age where thrash bands were starting to branch out into what we know today as death and black metal, this was “just thrash” at its absolute peak.
The anthemic “In Union We Stand” expands upon those aforementioned traditional leanings of Feel the Fire. Perhaps it’s just me, but I always felt this was Overkill’s attempt at a Priest-esque battle hymn, similar to “Take On the World”, “United”, and so forth. As empowering as it is on record, it hits different live. Trust me, I know from experience. The high speed of blitz that is “Electro-Violence” leaves up to its name with its blistering riffs and misanthropic lyricism. Again, it’s a perfect balance of what I like to call “machine gun riffing” with IQ lowering breakdowns, neither of these elements ever overpowering each other.
Closing it all out is the 7+ minute thrash suite, “Overkill II (The Nightmare Continues)”. Intended as a follow up to “Overkill”, which closed out Feel the Fire, “Overkill II” takes us on a multi-faceted prog-thrash voyage through the unknown. Considering the precedent set by acts like Maiden and Mercyful Fate, these lengthy epics had become the standard for metal bands of the era, especially thrash bands by this point. Admittedly, being ragged on by the general public and critics alike, they wanted to prove they were more than “thrashers”, and did so by incorporating “mature” compositions, such as this. While I still hold firm that thrash is what Overkill does best, “Overkill II” is a worthwhile glimpse into what could’ve been had they gone down the Fates Warning/Queensrÿche path.
’87 was a make or break period for thrash metal and Taking Over made Overkill in a HUGE way. While many of their peers fell to the wayside, struggling to keep up, Overkill continued to unleash pure thrashing devastation, one album at a time. Their presence on MTV only grew and against all odds, even during those dark days of the ’90s and ’00s, they never surrendered. Such a word doesn’t exist in their vocabulary. Today, Overkill continues to thrash, and will do so yet again this Friday in Milwaukee. Where will you be when the “Wrecking Crew” walks over you?