:: Overkill - Ironbound

Overkill

Although never achieving the same level of success as other well known thrash acts, Brooklyn outfit Overkill have certainly been one of the scene’s more consistent and reliable acts, with only a few lacklustre releases emerging from the band in their lengthy twenty-five year recording career. Like clockwork, the five-piece act have returned with their sixteenth full-length album ‘Ironbound’. With the strong groove influence dominating Overkill’s last couple of albums, and the band’s tendency to stick within the safe confines of their tried and true sound of the last couple of decades, I can honestly say that I was expecting ‘Ironbound’ to be a solid effort, and not much more. But to my surprise, Overkill have rediscovered some of their early speed and aggression, with ‘Ironbound’ quite possibly one of the group’s strongest efforts in years. The opening track ‘The Green And Black’ is a stunning opening track, and easily one of the band’s thrashier efforts in years. Running for a lengthy eight minutes, Overkill provide plenty of tempo changes to keep things interesting throughout, with the transition between the faster passages complimented nicely with huge breakdowns and slower melodic sections. The title track ‘Ironbound’, the old-school/N.W.O.B.H.M. influenced ‘Bring Me The Night’, the chugging thrash-like groove of ‘Endless War’ and the pounding ‘Give A Little’ easily match the opening track in terms of quality, while ‘The Goal Is Your Soul’, ‘In Vain’ and ‘The SRC’ mark out the remaining first class efforts on the album. Despite a couple of tracks that aren’t quite up to the mark, ‘Ironbound’ is a huge step up from anything Overkill have released in a long time, and an album that’s sure to keep the green and black brigade coming out in their droves when Overkill take to touring off the back of the album for the next couple of years.