10 Awesome Thrash Metal Bands With One Terrible Album

Overkill's 11th studio effort ultimately lives up to the band's name.

Guitarists Joe Comeau and Sebastian Marino had quit in the years prior with Marino leaving after 1999's 'Necroshine' and Comeau following suit after the release of covers album 'Coverkill' later that same year. The line-up change does Overkill no favours as they become yet another thrash casualty of groove metal.

By 2000, groove metal had been soundly trounced by nu metal as the top dog in the heavy music world. Evidently Overkill didn't get the memo when trying to blend thrash with something a little trendier. The results are disappointing for the New Jersey headbangers. While the effort put into self-producing in the years after they left Atlantic Records in '95 are commendable, this change of pace LP simply doesn't deliver the goods.

Frivolous tracks like 'Thunderhead' and 'My Name is Pain' find the group at their most boneheaded, stumbling into some of the worst habits both thrash and groove have been mocked for. On the bright side, Bobby Ellsworth's vocals are suitably demonic, playing with higher, mischievous pitches against an aggressive but often monotonous instrumental backdrop.

It's not a 100% unforgivably awful LP by any stretch but it's deeply disappointing for long time fans of Overkill. It's especially dismal compared to thrash classics like 'The Years of Decay' and 'Taking Over' from their late '80s peak.