OVERKILL — Feel The Fire (review)

OVERKILL — Feel The Fire album cover Album · 1985 · Thrash Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
siLLy puPPy
OVERKILL is one of those bands that’s been around for-friggin-EVER! They really formed all the way back in 1980 and throughout the decades only lead singer Bobby “Blitz” Ellsworth and bassist D.D. Verni have been in the band since the beginning. Understanding the sound of OVERKILL has a lot to do with their origins. Not only are the obvious time period offerings of NWOHM influences in your face on their debut FEEL THE FIRE which came out in the nascent thrash metal years of 1985 but this band originally emerged from the ashes of Verni’s punk band The Lubricants.”

Album number one has all the elements of punk enthusiasm and crossover rhythmic qualities but at this point mostly resides in the melodic classic metal realms with bands like Iron Maiden and to a lesser extent Judas Priest being high on the altar of worship. At this point thrash metal had pretty much gone through musical mitosis to create a separate and distinct sub-genre within the metal universe but OVERKILL lean more towards the traditional side with their melodies and vocal deliveries here but offer up a thrashy musical energetic frenzy of guitar, bass and drums around the trad melodic song structures.

At this point, in addition to Ellsworth and Verni, the band consists of Bobby Gustafson on guitar and Rat Skates (also of The Lubricators) on drums. It’s the musical talent of these musicians and the passionate energetic delivery that make this album a really stellar debut. The trad vs thrash formula works pretty good here. Ellsworth has an excellent voice for this type of thing. Although he was no Bruce Dickinson, he kinda reminds me of Geoff Tate nailing the lower octaves without the operatic cheesiness many bands were engaging in at this time. (Meaning he stayed within his limits)

While Iron Maiden is the key suspect of influence here especially on the latter tracks with the title track almost sounding like a long lost B-side of the mighty Maiden, OVERKILL does a fairly good job in keeping the rhythmic flow, lead guitar outbursts and songwriting in general in a fairly original camp. This is an extremely well done debut from a band in 1985 and although not approaching thrash god status such as early Metallica and Megadeth or even achieving the brilliance of their 21st century releases, FEEL THE FIRE nevertheless has an epic 80s trad vs thrash metal feel and one that i find an exciting listen. Good start for a band that not only proved longevity but incrementally keeps improving over the years.
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siLLy puPPy wrote:
more than 2 years ago
Yeah, i hear that. Motorhead has punk influence too. They considered Virgin Killer as a name so i assumed the Scorpions might have had more influence in the name department
Vim Fuego wrote:
more than 2 years ago
I've always considered Motorhead to be one of their major influences. The name maybe?;)
siLLy puPPy wrote:
more than 2 years ago
Heard that. They have been one of the most consistent bands over their many decade run
Unitron wrote:
more than 2 years ago
Great review for a great debut. Under the Influence and The Years of Decay are my favorites, but I've yet to hear an Overkill album I don't like.

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