helterskelter.ca

OVER KILL
1987 - Taking Over.
1988 - Under The Influence.
1989 - The Years Of Decay.
1991 - Horrorscope.
1994 - W.F.O.
1997 - From The Underground And Below.
way more Helter Skelter.

September 1, 1987 - 2022: 35 years of: Taking Over.

Feel this fire from New-Jersey.

Here is the formula for classic mid 80s East-Coast thrashmetal: Bay-Area thrash with Euro-powermetal melodies ...think: Cliff-era METALLICA with 70s-era JUDAS PRIEST.

Hits like a hammerhead, the whirlwind of "Deny The Cross" opens the metal-purgatory. Pure speedmetal takes the cake on "Powersurge" while the brutal "Electro-Violence" is a raunchy overload. The ending progressive-themed epic "Overkill II (The Nightmare Continues)" pushes all the tricks into a clever twisted birth of tension.

Metal-anthem bound, the fist-pumping and crowd-gathering "In Union We Stand" unofficially became the band's war-cry and on the other side of the spectrum the devastating "Wrecking Crew" still resonate as the band's ultimate signature.

The immortal East-Coast thrashmetal-template: Megaforce Records and Pyramid Sound Studios with Alex Perialas behind the desk ...it kills and often, overkills. By late 1987 the band already had released the infamous Fuck You EP, preparing the road for the monstrous end of the line 1988's Under The Influence LP.

*
In Union We Stand = video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vu2gsCHFkGI
Taking Over = full LP
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKD89qPjJUU&list=PLgtvGkabBTgjgF_5pd2klHmppqCBMFSb6
Intreview on Headbanger's Ball in 1987
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQkCjMzcxh0
Live in Germany in 1987
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdgN0UFm3tM

July 5, 1988 - 2023: 35 years of: Under The Influence.

Feel their influence !

1988's USA is cut in half: West-Coast thrash -versus- East-Coast thrash. Running behind the Bay-Area, the NY + NJ carnivores of NUCLEAR ASSAULT, ANTHRAX and OVER KILL, were not gonna leave a single riff behind. Still feeling the fire, OVER KILL's take-over would be a mosh-domination.

Fast and furious, they rip the scene to "Shred". Guitar-downstroke heaven, parallel to the mighty Hetfield, Gustafson and the wrecking-crew activates the pit. The riff-o-rama continues on "Never Say Never" and the concept-track for "Overkill III (Under The Influence)" distribute more epic Eurometal lines along American progressive thrash.

Modern speed of "Mad Gone World" and "Head First" blasts, while the pummeling laid-back "Drunken Wisdom" is a lesson into muddy violence. The MTV-single for "Hello From The Gutter" waves the flag high, as the Big Apple is: The Greatest City In The World.

Record number three, Mike Tyson power-punch number three: OVER KILL is in the zone. Don't look elsewhere for perfection, one of thrashmetal's pinnacle would arise in the form of 1989's The Years Of Decay LP.

"Welcome to the gutter ...we've been expecting youuuuu ha ha ha !!!" - Blitz

*
Hello From The Gutter = video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwJbu_llZGY
Under The Influence = full LP
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iy-1B2pY7vs&list=OLAK5uy_mDvC8qY8hnBHlnPF24R3HCmlD_rC8F3SY
Interview in 1988
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djyNXA3iPRw
Live in Peekskill in 1988
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfZcz6GMP4I

October 23, 1989 - 2024: 35 years of: The Years Of Decay.

Still under the influence ? can you feel the fire ? ...gear up 'coz OVER KILL are taking over !

Hello from the gutter, as the New Jersey-boys finally hits the sough after Grand Slam. Epic 1989: a collection of some of the best thrashmetal releases known to man and OVER KILL are at the Pole-Position. The Years Of Decay LP stands in front-line with the other premiere thrashmetal classics of: Alice In Hell, Beneath The Remains, Universe, Nothingface and label-mates TESTAMENT with their Practice What You Preach LP.

Bargaining with gasoline for the perfect thrashmetal album ? ...we tend to think so !

Exhibit A:
The aggression reaches Mach IV on "Time To Kill" were hate takes a new metal-meaning. Thunder and riff sets-in has Blitz yells an apocalyptic "Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh !!!". The breakdown-part is heaviness redefined and slowly snakes around to finally climax again with the main burst-o-energy riff. Un-fuckin-paralleled musicianship.

Exhibit B:
The immortal killer punchy hit in "Elimination". The riff, the sing-along chorus, the power-chord bridge, the melodic-lead, the speedmetal-lead, lyrics about dying and overall MOTÖRHEAD-attitude ...is there anything this song can't do ?

Exhibit C:
"Skullkrusher" were BLACK SABBATH Volume 4-era goes thrashmetal. The mammoth downtuned riff is Godzilla on Valiums, while the totemistic drums keeps the clock in check. The thick quicksand swallows you into oblivion, slowly but surely as you grasp your last breath while the upbeat mid-part leaves room for Gustafson's blistering lead-work.

Exhibit D:
Metal-heaven is found on the grandiose title-track "The Years Of Decay". Full classical-guitar verse and melodies throughout this 8min epic. The bombastic drums turns this song into a mosh-pit frenzy at the 2:55sec mark. Back to beauty in darkness at 5:02sec before the catatonic finale at the 6:26sec point of no return. Majestic-metal ...thrashmetal's "Stairway To Heaven".

Exhibit E:
Speed, hate and Armageddon AKA "E.vil N.ever D.ies". After the sonic-echoed intro, every elements of the band goes into electro-violence. Fast-paced riffing and speed drums, this is OVER KILL's raunchiest song ever written. Verni's commanding distorted-bass takes full control at the 2:51sec off-tempo part. The deadly guitar-tone crawls back at 3:50sec, pumping more adrenaline into this perfect-system. 4:25sec point: speed, speed and more speed as it leads us into another eardrum bleeding lead-guitar frenzy.

Exhibit F:
Extra mojo for the bass-guitar licks on "Nothing To Die For" ...hail D.D. Verni !

The Years Of Decay LP is a Royal Flush of thrashmetal drums, guitars and bass. In-your-face East-Coast suburban mosh with Eurometal vocals, all delivered in DIY-stamina. Worshipped at the Altar by blue-collar fans, it is a pinnacle in the genre, for a life-time of headbanging enjoyment. Still rotten to the core, Terry Date rumors says that this LP was the catalyst for PANTERA's guitar-tone for the upcoming 1990's Cowboys From Hell CD sessions ...would you agree ?

Unfortunately this would also be the last union with creative guitarist Bobby Gustafson, as he would be let go later after the tour. The door was now open for the creation of OVER KILL 2.0 ...with 1991's Horrorscope CD.

*
Elimination = video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svi6JiMe9c0
The Years Of Decay = full LP
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QoaV0P6ILQ&list=PLA592BE2F70B0D927
MTV interview in 1989
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWRk3WohIW0
Live in 1990 at the Trocadero
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfDlX1CZy-c
some guy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ww6xmIu_VRw

September 3, 1991 - 2021: 30 years of: Horrorscope.

Today's horoscope: one of the last classic-thrash record of the era.

In the history-books, American thrashmetal has always been a West-Coast thang. Still under the influence, after the 4 decaying-LP explosion of the initial Bobby Gustafson era, changes happened and we welcome to the arena: guitarist Merritt Gant and second guitarist Rob Cannavino ...the upgraded and fatter OVER KILL 2.0

Intro and death. Fall into a "Coma", deep yet fully alive, this is another lesson in violence. This metal-sickness is "Infectious", a punchy and massive attack. Tuned to D, this gang used to say "Fuck You" as they now politely shouts "Thanx For Nothin" !

The center-piece of the album: your personalized "Horrorscope". Verni's 8-string bass-intro sets the doom-switch to the On-Position and the Terry Date produced guitar-tone hammers you with mid-paced SABBATH-worshipping ton-like down-picking. OVER KILL are in the zone, one of thrashmetal's shiniest moments.

New-school and old-vibe is taking over, this "New Machine" is the best unit in true blue-collar thrashmetal ...the Big Four who ? And the Edgar Winter's genre-defining "Frankenstein" reprise displays an updated classic in a metal-format.

During the torment of METALLICA's million-selling genre-redefining Black Album CD, the OVER KILL-ers were now, some of the last men standing. East-Coast and extreme, the Jersey-boys would later come back from the underground and below through the 90s, with some wide fucking open undiluted killing kind thrashmetal.

*
Horroscope = video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3TIHEHObjI
Thanx For Nothin' = video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPNnA9sXRfM
Horrorscope = full CD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbTVVXNm9IM&list=PLoIJlr-assecjWlKghgJfQvTYKcI7kReo
Interview MTV in 1992
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RZrkgbu8u4
Live in Pennsylvania in 1991
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwUygCENlbM

July 15, 1994 - 2024: 30 years of: W.F.O.

W.T.F.

Taking a revenge on thrashmetal, after 1993's lukewarm I Hear Black CD, they once again felt the fire. A full-on thrashmetal attack, this is the unashamed return from the gutter ...OVER KILL are wide fuckin' open !

A high-gain crunch filled tone breaks the silence as the band hits "Where It Hurts". More bass and more groove appears on "The Wait / New High In Lows", the riff-killings of "Under One" and the definite high-octane closing statement of "Gasoline Dream".

Corrosive speed gains RPMs, as both "Supersonic Hate" and the biker-cool "Fast Junkie" wipes the ninety's bare ass. Taking a hint from 1987's "In Union We Stand", the formula gets shouted throughout this "Bastard Nation" ...an arenarock stomper with deadly consequences.

Update your horrorscope, hear OVER KILL here, in the trenches, knee deep in thrash and reloaded to face the metal-hostile decade. Now free from Atlantic Records, the band goes deeper in the underground and below, in full DIY-mode with two new guitar-players on 1996's The Killing Kind CD.

*
Fast Junkie = video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnrxG0fFXqU
Bastard Nation = video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNv55N7_PJU
W.F.O. = full CD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvzPT2ySnHo&list=OLAK5uy_naKjidk3oPqlrKrgut9aCY_l4DKD4S5fw
Wrecking Your Neck Live = full CD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fb818nU8zMw&list=OLAK5uy_nNs1eMIkATaCE_bP_3QFCV-Pd5BHRZnq4
Live in Minneapolis in 1995
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8OrXk8Sb4w
some guy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBD0itzKd4I

September 30, 1997 - 2022: 25 years of: From The Underground And Below.

Thrashmetal's rebirth.

Deep into the mid 90s, thrashmetal was near-absent from the hardnheavy landscape, but in 1997, things started to brew again, namely the über heaviness of TESTAMENT and the raw return of RAZOR. And after 1996's dirty metal offering in The Killing Kind CD, New-Jersey's hardest working thrash band was back again with some more lethal material since 1992's Horrorscope CD.

OVER KILL lives !
"It Lives" ! ...a slap in the face, modern thrashmetal with, as always DIY esthetics. Crude and unstoppable, the massacre continues with "F.U.C.T." and the album's closer, the maniacal lifeless spree of a "Little Bit O' Murder".

The "Genocya" freight-train doesn't stop for nobody, while the redneck-rock feel of "I'm Alright" and "The Rip N' Tear" takes care of any still standing braves out there. The only faux-pas present is the powerballad of "Promises", we fans still asks ourselves why ?

Round Two for the OVER KILL 3.0 incarnation, now featuring new axemen Joe Comeau and Sebastian Marino. Comeau would provide added back-vocals throughout his tenure with the band. Getting their hands dirty and still wrecking our necks, the Blitz and Verni creative dynamic mosh duo would devastates again with 1999's Necroshine CD.

East-Coast thrashmetal: abrasive art truely from the underground and below.

*
From The Underground And Below = full CD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQnc5bZ0e34&list=PLgtvGkabBTgjuKevo5kJVWrMaSnnq4xxV
Interview in 1998
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOT20zXah_c
Live in Montreal in 1998
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5fIGA2ScO8