OVERKILL - "THE GRINDING WHEEL" (2017)

OVERKILL - "THE GRINDING WHEEL"
(Running time: 64:10 minutes; 11 songs)
("Nuclear Blast Records"; 2017; CD):

Hey guys, here's the next one coming for you and like (yesterday) announced it is finally again a new record review on a new 2017 album and in this case we will now have a detailed look on OVERKILL's "THE GRINDING WHEEL" released this yery year via the german "NUCLEAR BLAST RECORDS" label. OVERKILL were one of the very first Metal bands that "went beyond Heavy Metal" that I far way back then came in contact with and I fell promptly in love with them, and if the world would be an anyhow/anyway just place, only a very little bit, OVERKILL would definitely occupy safely their place in the ranks of the so called "Big 4" of Thrash Metal but anyhow. Over the last decade I lost them a little bit out of sight and so "THE GRINDING WHEEL" is their first album to make its way into the ranks and onto the shelfs of my collection since their "KILLBOX 13" masterpiece from sort of one and a half decade ago or so. The albums since then I know, some more and some less, but somehow none of them made its way into my home, why ever, but this finally changed again with "THE GRINDING WHEEL". Reading first reviews on it back when it was released at the beginning of this year of 2017 made me damn curious on/about it and so I went and bought it finally one beautiful day and oh hell yeahr how it should conquer me, damn it!!! OVERKILL's "THE GRINDING WHEEL" is, in my perception, a mixture out of their very hymnal and anthemic early days and records when they played a very strongly Heavy Metallic sort of Thrash Metal and of their phenomenal stunning intense and heavy yet still very diverse atmospheric mid to late 1990's phase and especially their absolute masterpiece and my all time favorite of them "THE KILLING KIND" comes to my mind (and its also just fantastic successor album "FROM THE UNDERGROUND AND BELOW", too), and I would say that when you add sort of an epic approach to it all you may get a pretty good impression or imagination of what "THE GRINDING WHEEL" is all about, and just by the way "THE GRINDING WHEEL" is OVERKILL's 18th full length album and it's so incredible fresh, play- and joyful, delivered with so much heart, passion, soul, and energy like the most and biggest majority of today's oh so much celebrated newcomers and young ones in (Thrash) Metal not a single bit get it done, yes, and this says a lot (if not everything). The energy level is all the time shifted to/on "high octane full throttle" mode and it's just fantastic that OVERKILL so easily manage to work into the surely mostly by mid paced tempo dominated songs one hell of an incredible big dynamic and a lot of surprising elements and parts, atmospheric and emotionally intense tones, as well as just purely exciting twists and turns, massive slamming grooves, top notch changes of the tempo and the pace of the songs, massive sing along anthemic and hymnal parts and "hooky" refrains, just pure damn crushing heavyness, and one hell of a strong and great inner diversity of the songs, all marked by an amazing compositorial work and just absolutely shining arrangements. It's just, yes, damn fucking outstanding amazing, period. The harsh and heavy yet just highly diverse and rich-on-variations as well as just fucking intense and atmospheric guitars really shine with their brilliant rhythmic work and their "godlike" melody lines, leads, and solos. Blitz' vocals, that are backed up by top notch loud crew back up chantings, just totally shine in their still very own extremity and with their very own unique identity and character and also with a huge load of fantastic melodies worked into the lead singing performance. The absolutely top notch rhythm section then finally is sort of the "crowning point" of/to it all. The songs are nothing but epic or at very least "epicly done" with no song being shorter than five or six minutes and yet they are so exciting and grapping over all the time and just so diverse and varying and just "valuable'n'rich" that their flow is definitely nothing but highly-to-highest impressive. And with so much to offer and so many absolutely rousing, grapping, and exciting force in it all "THE GRINDING WHEEL" is just one hell of an intense and great ride. That these fine gentlemen are also high skilled musicians should be clear anyhow. If you ask for my personal favorites then I would name you "MEAN, GREEN KILLING MACHINE", "GODDAMN TROUBLE", "SHINE ON", "THE LONG ROAD", "LET'S ALL GO TO HADES", "RED, WHITE AND BLUE", and the larger than life bombastic and epic titletrack "THE GRINDING WHEEL" itself. The bonus song "EMERALD" is also a fantastic piece and a true gem and with its very strong melodic and hymnal, pure Heavy Metal character it is also one of my absolute favorites on this one here. But also the not mentioned ones are anyhow pure Gold as well. Absolutely first class lyrics, a beautiful artwork, and a top notch production sound we get on top of it all. So, yes, here we have a through and through pure and true force of an album that's nothing but incredible great and comes damn close to being a through and through perfect album. Okay, I think I've said enough, closing time up here right now again, yes, so my final words are: Amazing, get "THE GRINDING WHEEL" as soon as possible if you still don't have it in your collection. And now, of course, cheers and good night.

(9 of 10 points)

http://wreckingcrew.com/Ironbound/ (-the link to the homepage of the band)

OVERKILL - "SHINE ON" (2017, "THE GRINDING WHEEL")