OVERKILL — W.F.O. (review)

OVERKILL — W.F.O. album cover Album · 1994 · Thrash Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
UMUR
"W.F.O." (stands for "Wide Fucking Open") is the 7th full-length studio album by US thrash metal act Overkill. The album was released through Atlantic Records in July 1994. "W.F.O." features the same lineup who recorded "I Hear Black (1993)". The album features 99 tracks. Track 1 - 11 are "regular" tracks, while tracks 12 - 97 and 99 are short tracks of silence. Track number 98 is a hidden track featuring the band warming up in the studio playing classic heavy and hard rock tracks by Black Sabbath, Judas Priest and Jimi Hendrix.

Although the two albums share the same lineup "W.F.O." is a very different sounding album to "I Hear Black (1993)" as Overkill returns to a more thrash metal oriented sound on "W.F.O." compared to the groove and stoner metal oriented sound on the predecessor. As the case are on the eighties releases by the band, we´re again treated to a thrash/heavy metal assault with rabid dog snarling vocals by Bobby "Blitz" Ellsworth, a metallic sounding bass by D.D. Verni, hard hittin´ drumming courtesy of Tim Mallare, and two well playing guitarists in Rob Cannavino and Merritt Gant.

The material is generally of a good quality and tracks like "Where It Hurts", "Fast Junkie", "They Eat Their Young" and "Up to Zero" are designed to rip and tear. I love how headbang friendly the material is and how passionate the band sound again after the more restrained performance on "I Hear Black (1993)". The sound production is also "in Your Face", raw, distorted, and powerful, which suits the atmosphere of the tracks really well. So upon conclusion I´d say this is a return to form after the somewhat weak "I Hear Black (1993)". A 3.5 - 4 star (75%) rating is deserved.
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