OVERKILL — The Grinding Wheel (review)

OVERKILL — The Grinding Wheel album cover

Album · 2017 · Thrash Metal

4/5 · 2017-02-10
siLLy puPPy

Well into the second decade of the 21st century and more than 30 years after their debut album hit the market, OVERKILL continue to release astonishingly consistent quality thrash metal recordings that while firmly planted in the parameters of their established brand of heavy thrash riffs embellished by high energy workouts and accessible melodic hooks always manage to eke out a distinct identity for each album that they uncage. THE GRINDING WHEEL is their 18th studio album and it seems that the band is absolutely nowhere near the end of their career as this album continues their tradition of well-crafted thrash metal headbangers that find Bobby “Blitz” Ellsworth’s distinct vocals sounding just as top form as ever. While the bigwigs of 80s thrash stardom take entire decades to conjure up a new release to the public, OVERKILL seems to have a bottomless well of inspiration has seems to take no more than three years between albums.

OVERKILL has really stepped up their game in the last decade with an unthinkable energetic development that has taken their trademark sound and given it a much needed vitality boost especially beginning with “Ironbound” and continuing gracefully with “The Electric Age” and “White Devil Armory.” THE GRINDING WHEEL will not be too much of surprise to stalwart head banging worshippers of thrash and it indeed continues down the path set forth on the previous albums, however there is a return to a dirty grunge type of sound on this one. There is also a lot more undercurrents of Judas Priest type NWOBM grooves going on with Ellsworth’s vocal phrasing sounding a lot like Halford at times. It also sounds like the guitar and bass are tuned down a bit giving a darker bass fueled distortion with more traditional 80s style riffs. Despite the more traditional metal aspects shining through within the album’s run, there are still thrash influences aplenty with more than a comparable riff to classic Metallica, Testament or even Pantera. While the production on recent albums has been quite crystal clear, on THE GRINDING WHEEL is seems to be deliberately muddy and for me has sort of a dirty Motorhead feel to it. While it’s obvious that OVERKILL is going for a more retro feel to this album even including Sabbathy doom riffs on “Come Heavy,” there is a fine balance between keeping it grungy with raw dirty distorted energy and a nice production value which shines in between the cracks of the heavy riffs as well as on the slick polished choral outro of the title track.

THE GRINDING WHEEL will not disappoint any longtime fans of OVERKILL for sure but equally it does not offer any sort of experimentation that will attract newer listeners who haven’t already been won over. For my personal tastes i am a huge fan of the newer phase of OVERKILL’s career preferring them to even the stellar releases of their early days and in many ways THE GRINDING WHEEL harks back to the soul of the 80s dirty old-school thrash which i find quite the satisfying listen but doesn’t quite have the diversity of dynamics that albums like “Ironbound” quite had but despite not quite measuring up to the thrash-terpieces of the metal world, THE GRINDING WHEEL is yet another stellar quality release from OVERKILL proving that they deserve the coveted crown of thrash metal overlords as Metallica, Megadeth and Anthrax have become quite predicable and never quite muster up enough quality moments to keep my interest much anymore on newer offerings. OVERKILL on the other hand consistently keep the thrash candles burning and never once disappoint even on their more experimental albums such as “Bloodletting.” Like many newer metal releases, there are many different types of releases offering fans different versions of the album. Mine is a digipak which contains the bonus track “Emerald,” a Thin Lizzy tune off their “Jailbreak” but actually sounds more Iron Maiden than anything else on the album.

more than 2 years ago
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Nightfly wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Yes, great review. I'm eager to hear this one.

siLLy puPPy wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Thanks. Overkill always makes the top of the list for me.

Unitron wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Great review, I'm loving this album. I love the bluesy thrash of "Goddamn Trouble" and "come Heavy", and the title track has a majestic Mercyful Fate vibe to it. I think this is already going to be my AOTY.