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Overkill: Ironbound
Overkill Ironbound new music review

Overkill: Ironbound

Thrash Metal
Rating: 5.0/5.0

Nuclear Blast/E1 Music
www.myspace.com/overkill
www.owreckingcrew.com
Review: Miguel Blardony,  03.21.2010

As the saying goes, age is just number. So who cares if Overkill are collectively pushing past their late 40's? The thrash they peddle on this sixteenth(!) album of theirs is priceless, beginning with the brooding bass lines that open the curtains for The Green And Black. Once it's underway the band quickly get into gear and are soon thrashing mad at 250mph, with ever reliable frontman Bobby ‘Blitz' Ellsworth belting out the lyrics with his trademark snarlsome charm. Clocking in at over seven minutes, Ironbound's opening salvo is a guaranteed earful, but it zips by in what seems half its running time. It's a sure sign a lot of energy is crackling throughout this release, energy that's been sorely missing on this album's 2007 predecessor Immortalis.

After The Green And Black subsides the title track barges in with the dignity of a stampeding elephant and it's grand to hear the guys deliver crushing musical fare. On the song Ironbound watch out for the juicy vocal hooks and the eruption of slaying guitar harmonies at its middle. Overkill may be playing even faster by the ensuing tracks, but it's still infected with the band's newfound inclination for bombast. For those hungering for straightforward fare the next song Bring Me The Night arrives with a crackling drum roll and is driven by piledriving riffs circa-Diamond Head. It's a song devoid of frills, purely focused on the goods, an aesthete shared by its straightforward music video.

The Goal Is Your Soul sees Overkill kick back and go down the slow route and the wrecking crew don't indulge on a mosh-worthy musical binge till Endless War boils for five hair raising minutes. Much creepyness lurks within the hook driven The Head And Heart and on its last Ironbound leg, Overkill bombard us with teeth-loosening thrash anthems such as In Vain, Killing For A Living, and the rollercoaster that's The SRC.

More than 20 years since seminal releases like Horrorscope and The Years of Decay, Overkill have rediscovered their knack for thrash mischief and joyously stew in its juices for a vigorous 50 minutes. On the technical side of things, the production here is ace and everyone, from Bobby Blitz to the Linsk-Tailer guitar duo to drummer Ron Lipnicki, are in fine form. Now go make Chaley proud and buy this album.

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In Short

More than 20 years since seminal releases like Horrorscope and The Years of Decay, on Ironbound Overkill have rediscovered their knack for thrash mischief and joyously stew in its juices for a vigorous 50 minutes.

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