From the brutal to the sludgy to the experimental to the symphonic, we raise our horns in welcome and warning to the coming week: we are here to ROCK.
Prudence might say to vary the playbook, but if you wanted, you could run it straight up the middle again and again. With a powerful enough line and fullback, you might even crank out a win three yards at a time. That “straight up the middle” approach has worked for Overkill for nearly 40 years, most recently on The Wings of War. The band is not hard to pin down—their new album wears the formula proudly—it’s just that you can’t pin. Overkill. down.
Musically and thematically, “Head of a Pin” encapsulates what Overkill is about. The song is thrash through and through, but these metalheads are no Big 4 runners up. Sure you can hear the kinship to Metallica, but over here there’s an awful lot of Motörhead, and just over the horizon you can make out a hint of Judas Priest. The hook is big, the sound is big, and the old (apocryphal?) question “How many angels can fit on the head of pin?” takes on a sinister quality when “pin” is interpreted in terms of the album’s warfare theme. Every element of the song is driving, loud, aggressive…what more do you want from classic thrash in 2019?
Thanks to Rob D. for recommending The Wings of War to us.