Overkill - The Grinding Wheel

The beginning of this year has certainly been strangely dominated by thrash rearing it’s head as though it still has something to prove. Kreator, Iron Reagan, and now Overkill have put out releases that sound just like how thrash would hypothetically respond if it heard someone say it was stupid. And Overkill’s new effort, indeed, captures that essence, that attitude, that fire that has allowed thrash to remain relevant among the much more extreme genres it helped birth. In fact, the band’s relentless stream of music for the past 32 years, fitting for their name, encapsulates the die-hard nature of thrash and has done so rather consistently, but with a seemingly newfound spark in the past few albums, and it has continued on The Grinding Wheel.

Much of the album’s appeal comes not from memorable riffs and dynamic changes akin to Metallica or top-class musicianship akin to Vektor, but strictly from the concentration of the purest thrash attitude. For the hour-long thrash-fest it presents, there are not quite enough special moments like the bridge of the introductory track to make this album anything similarly special.

To delve into the specifics of the album, I found it to be filled with standard traditional thrash sandwiched between pretty alright opening and closing tracks (the intro track being a bit more enjoyable than the title track, however). The sleazy lyrics of “Come Heavy” are a bit repulsive and cringe-worthy, and “The Long Road” has possibly the most annoying melody I’ve heard so far this year. “Goddamn Trouble” does a decent job of sustaining the opening track’s momentum, and while the album does indulge in lots of cliche thrash corniness, its relentless attitude gives no time to really sit and dwell on the negativity of it, the band’s seasoned ability to pummel through an entire track list without any breaks for meditation.

What Overkill have always done well, because they have been doing nothing else for their nearly four decades of existence, they continue to do with no signs of slowing or changing. For many, this is the appeal of Overkill, knowing exactly what’s going into each album that comes out every two or three years, like a Starbucks coffee. While there is nothing wrong with that approach to music inherently and while Overkill do indeed do their job well, they play as though (contrary to their snarlingly aggressive attitude) they are content in the artistic rut they’ve dug for themselves and content with their status as a relatively successful thrash band playing run-of-the-mill thrash for 30+ years. While I respect Overkill’s abilities and their dedication, their catalog is full of average thrash metal, most of it not compelling any repeated listening from me, and this album has struck me as only slightly stronger than the rest of the bunch.

With all that said, I feel I must clarify that I do not hate Overkill or this album. I think it is important for metal to have artists willing to stay true to what they know is best for them without yielding to the current trends in metal or faux-visionary attempts at “experimenting” with their sound. I think the problem with Overkill’s 18th album in their 32-year recording career is that it’s their 18th album in their 32-year recording career. What I mean by that is that they always seem to strive to be a thrash-cranking machine that seems to value quantity, consistency, and guarantee over quality. And that is the case with The Grinding Wheel too, which is album whose name adequately summarizes the all-tenacity, head-on nature of their career. Again, they have clearly made it the mission of their career to be the reliable, steadfast, nonstop thrash metal factory they are, so judging them by whether or not they change it up or innovate metal would be pointless and misguided. What would be more empowering for Overkill would be taking a little more time with each album, slowing down, and really nurturing each song they put on an album, that is, if they are in fact capable of doing so productively (which is impossible to determine because they don’t seem to have taken that approach to writing). I think better late than never, especially considering they have more than proven they can ride this thrash train across the decades at constant speed. For those not dedicated to them for what they do produce, they are definitely beyond stale, but they seem musically capable of focusing in on making something above their typical output, and that might be what it takes to ascend to being more than just a notable thrash band coasting without friction on 80′s success. I guess we’ll see in two or three years when they probably announce their 19th studio album.