Overkill - Horrorscope
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qefhH0_gkqw]
While writing a review of Overkill’s new album, Immortalis, I revisited the band’s entire full-length catalogue – 14 albums. For two days at work, I listened to nothing but Overkill. That’s called “taking one for the team.” A few things jumped out at me: (1) Bobby “Blitz” Ellsworth’s sneer is a surprisingly easy taste to acquire, (2) the band’s mid-period groove metal albums really suck, (3) guitarist Dave Linsk is the best thing to happen to Overkill (4) since Rob Cannavino and Merritt Gant joined up for 1991’s Horrorscope.
No offense to Bobby Gustafson, who played on the band’s classic early albums, but when Cannavino and Gant came on, Overkill went up a notch. Horrorscope was an over-achievement for Overkill, a blue-collar band with some truly boneheaded moments in its oeuvre. It honed thrash to a degree of sophistication Overkill would never reach again. Although Cannavino and Gant stayed on for two more full-lengths, they never recaptured the magic of Horrorscope.
The title track was even more of an over-achievement. I remember seeing this video on MTV when I was young, and it blowing my mind. Little did I realize I was seeing an aberration. That amazing bass intro? Those sick harmonies in the solo section? Where did those come from??? They’re so not Overkill. And only recently did I realize that when Ellsworth sings the lines that end in “fields of fire,” he’s channeling Sabbath-era Ozzy. Overkill’s last four albums, featuring Linsk, are thoroughly enjoyable, but they don’t hold a candle to this.
