OVERKILL — I Hear Black (review)

OVERKILL — I Hear Black album cover Album · 1993 · Groove Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3/5 ·
UMUR
"I Hear Black" is the 6th full-length studio album by US thrash metal act Overkill. The album was released through Atlantic Records in March 1993. There´s been one lineup change since "Horrorscope (1991)" as drummer Sid Falck has been replaced by Tim Mallare. Despite the fact that many fans today often express the feeling that the album doesn´t represent Overkill in the best possible way, "I Hear Black" is actually one of the best selling albums in the band´s discography, selling a relatively great number of copies worldwide. That´s pretty impressive taking into consideration that the metal scene at the time was in a period of commercial/mainstream decline.

Compared to the five albums that came before it, "I Hear Black" actually does sound a bit different. There´s no questioning that the huge commercial success of "Metallica (1991)" (The Black Album) by Metallica, changed the thrash metal scene dramatically and albums like "The Ritual (1992)" by Testament and "Sound Of White Noise (1993)" by Anthrax as well as "I Hear Black" by Overkill are reflections of those changes. All those mentioned albums feature a more mainstream and less thrashy sound compared to what those artists had done before. The times had changed and the artists changed with them.

Instead of featuring fast thrashy riffing and energetic drumming, the music on "I Hear Black" features quite a few groove metal elements as well as hints of stoner metal. Even lead vocalist Bobby "Blitz" Ellsworth sounds slightly less intense than he usually does. There are still thrashy riffing in most tracks, but it´s not necessarily the dominant style on this album. There´s still a relatively high level of aggression in the music though and it´s also quite dark. "Weight of the World" is probably the most "straight" thrash metal track on the album, and one of the few real highlights on the album, featuring a relatively fast pace and great energy. Other highlights include the title track and "World of Hurt".

It´s not an album with many highlights though and as the sound production is also a bit weak sounding compared to especially the sound on "Horrorscope (1991)" I´m slightly biased towards the album. In many ways it´s still a quality product, but as for my personal enjoyment level when listening to the album, it´s fairly low and I´m quite disappointed about "I Hear Black" considering the high quality of it´s direct predecessors. Still a 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.
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