Overkill – Ironbound

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Nuclear Blast
Produced by Overkill

Overkill promised an old-school thrash album with Ironbound, seemingly answering the calls from a particular section of thrash fans who were tiring of their groove-metal sound and wanted a more traditional album. They have delivered this in a way, but it’s not quite as one-dimensional as it could have been, thankfully.

Opener The Green And Black goes about things in a strange way throughout its equally unusual (for an Overkill song) eight-minute duration. Kicking off with a melodic intro straight from Metallica’s catalogue it spends a while in seen-it-done-it thrash by numbers territory, switches to the patented Overkill groove half way through, then goes back to stock thrash with an absolutely blistering lead guitar section. And it’s in the departures from the generic sound that most of the songs here become truly great. The title-track seems like it will be another derivitive thrash number excuted in a way far superior to most, but it’s the melodic mid-section and groove-riff bridge which stand-out.

The Goal Is Your Soul could go on any of their last three albums quite comfortably and is one of the few occasions here where their own recent sound comes to the fore, Give A Little borrows a lot from recent Megadeth, Bring Me The Night is a disappointing rip-off of the main riff from Diamond Head’s The Prince and the solos in Endless War (with a lot of Iron Maiden influence in other parts of the song), Killing For A Living and The S.R.C. are breathtaking. All of them start with the best elements of common thrash, and are made that bit classier when Overkill apply their trademarks.

While this does what it set out to do perfectly, which is to show all the young bands trying to recreate the ’80s thrash sound how it’s really done, it does sacrifice a lot of what has made Overkill such a stand-out band from the other thrash outfits who have, and in many cases haven’t, lasted so long, and that may work against them with some of the hardcore “wrecking crew”.

All the thrash fans who weren’t so enthralled by their groove-metal approach of the last fifteen years and longed for a return to the all-out thrash of the first few albums will love Ironbound and hail it as a return to form for a band who never lost it. Fans who think Overkill’s identity is the groove-metal approach may find themselves initially disappointed.

Further listens will actually reveal an awful lot for both sets of fans. The variations in style are still there, they just aren’t as blatant as they once were. This will prove to be one of the best thrash albums of the year, and it’s probably fair to say no other band could have made it.

“ far superior to most ”

Tracklist: The Green And Black / Ironbound / Bring Me The Night / The Goal Is Your Soul / Give A Little / Endless War / The Head And The Heart / In Vain / Killing For A Living / The S.R.C.

Written by Andy Lye
More: Albums, Thrash Metal, Overkill