Overkill - Taking Over (1987)

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Overkill - Taking Over (1987)

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Overkill - Taking Over (1987)
WV+CUE+LOG -> 342 MB | 45:40 min | Complete Artwork

Powersurge Of Classic Thrash Metal
Over Kill's second release is a decided improvement upon flawed classic, "Feel The Fire" featuring a decidely more listenable mix that is far less clangy and more layered while still retaining a raw, organic sound that emphasizes it's heaviness.

"Taking Over" is an unsung classic in Thrash Metal. The album playing like a cross of early 80s Slayer meets Anthrax with liberal doses of Metallica thrown into the mixture as well as an aggressiveness that could only have come from the NWOBHM. It always interested me that this band also chose a band often not cited as a major Thrash influence as a deciding factor in they're lyrics and sound and that is "Manowar" that mots bombastic of Metal acts that this album owes quite a bit to.

This album is certainly chaotic and insane with an emphasis on speed and melody with as many riffs as possible jammed into each and every song. Each song is a minor classic of the band but a few are surefire standouts. Lead cut, "Wrecking Crew" is one of the band's greatest anthems and a live show favorite. Tracks like "Powersurge" and "In Union We Stand" are wonderfully anthemic as well echoing Anthrax the most but more brutal. "Deny the Cross" is more akin to Slayer while "Fear His Name" is a wonderful piece of melodic Metal that tells of a certain Avenger who stalks the night and "Overkill 2: The Nightmare Continues" is a great Thrash epic that foreshadows the direction the band will take in the future.

Good fun to be had throughout on this album that may rank as the band's most accomplished effort if not they're most pleasant headbang before the band progressed with overly long songs and structures that were further removed from the Thrash roots. What this album represents is a sound of a type of Metal that is virtually non-existant today. It is the sound of Classic melodic Thrash and it's about as good as that subgenre gets.

If you haven't been introduced to this classic act yet this album would serve as a terrific introduction to a band that has remained far too neglected in the realms of Heavy Metal.

– Review at amazon.com