The album was divisive, with some fans bemoaning the group's new direction, but it also arrived in the midst of a huge shakeup in the mainstream, with grunge putting heavy metal on the backburner. drummer Tim Mallare taking over drum duties from Falck, who left to explore other musical avenues. Overkill continued to move toward a more Sabbathy stoner rock style on 1993's I Hear Black, which saw M.O.D. The newly minted quintet issued their fifth studio long-player, the brooding and relentlessly heavy Horrorscope, the following year, which introduced elements of doom into the mix and would go on to become a defining release and fan favorite.
A dispute over royalties and the group's general direction led to the departure of Gustafson in 1990, making way for two new guitarists, Rob Cannavino and Merritt Gant, the latter of whom previously served as Gustafson's guitar tech. Falck made his studio debut on 1988's Under the Influence, which marked the group's highest-charting LP to date.Ĭontinuing their breakneck pace, the band issued the Terry Date-produced Years of Decay the following year, which saw them pushing their sound in a more epic direction, while maintaining the neck-snapping attack of their debut. That year also saw the departure of Skates, who was replaced by Bob "Sid" Falck, formerly of Paul Di'Anno's Battlezone.
#OVERKILL ALBUMS FULL#
High-profile shows alongside luminaries like Slayer and Anthrax followed, and with the American thrash scene in full tilt, Overkill inked a major-label deal with Atlantic, which put out their sophomore effort, 1987's uncompromising Taking Over. The demo caught the attention of Megaforce Records, which issued the band's full-length studio debut, Feel the Fire, in 1985. An early demo, Power in Black, made waves in the underground tape-trading circuit, which was starting to catch fire as West Coast thrash artists like Testament and Exodus began gaining some traction. Taking their moniker from the 1979 Motörhead album of the same name, Overkill went through numerous personnel changes - and spent some time playing sped-up punk covers under the name Virgin Killer - before settling on a lineup consisting of Bobby "Blitz" Ellsworth (vocals), Bobby Gustafson (guitar), Rat Skates (drums), and D. Verni and lead vocalist Bobby "Blitz" Ellsworth have been the group's sole constant members - Overkill have remained one of the East Coast's most successful and versatile metal outfits, dabbling in doom, industrial, and stoner metal, while releasing an abundance of critically acclaimed albums like Ironbound (2010), White Devil Armory (2014), and The Wings of War (2019). Despite enduring myriad label and lineup changes - bassist D. Emerging in 1985 with the punishing Feel the Fire, the band built up a strong following in the metal underground with subsequent outings like Under the Influence (1988) and Years of Decay (1989). An integral part of the early-'80s thrash metal movement that spawned acts like Metallica and Anthrax, New Jersey's Overkill garnered a reputation for brutal, pounding speed and technique.
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