Overkill - The Grinding Wheel: Album Review

If you’re looking for an unbiased review of Overkill material, you have come to the wrong place.

However, “biased” is not the same thing as “stupid”. I love Overkill to death, but even I had second thoughts about this album when the singles for this LP started dropping. “Our Finest Hour” was painfully mediocre, but “Mean Green Killing Machine” just made me scared. Like the majority of listeners, I enjoyed Ironbound and The Electric Age immensely, but what people tend to forget is just how overly long and bloated those albums truly are. Hell, The Electric Age might just be overdue for an “Overrated Album Review”. But putting all that aside, it’s time to delve deep into Overkill’s Grinding Wheel.

Overkill have long been the black sheep of the thrash genre and I often wonder why. Maybe it’s because the group is so open to experimenting with other metal genres and see what works and what doesn’t that they scare off many metal purists. As such, The Grinding Wheel reflects some of the groove metal work that Overkill did in the 90s, following the path that their previous work White Devil Armory laid out. While it follows a similar path to White Devil Armory, The Grinding Wheel takes some risks that make it a much more interesting album.

First off the CD are the singles, “Mean Green Killing Machine”, “Goddamn Trouble”, and “Our Finest Hour”, all of which make the early parts of this album a bit of a chore. They represent the worst parts of Overkill’s recent discography, that is to say, bloated thrash tracks that reply on repetition rather than talent. While “Goddamn Trouble” is easily the best of the 3, with it being a more punk influenced, fast and loose track, the album easily has one of the hardest opening humps to get over.

Once that hump is cleared however, Overkill sorts out what they actually want to do with this album, then grab you by the balls (or other genitals) and do not let up for a second. “Shine On” and “The Long Road” both contain riffs and patterns that so easily could have fit on the groove albums that you wonder why they weren’t there in the first place. Then there’s “Let’s Go To Hades” and “Come Heavy” the latter of which has such a heavy and atmospheric presence, that it feels like a long lost Ghost or Sabbath track. The album’s title track is a monster of a closer, with a hefty, catchy marching riff and another atmospheric bridge that demonstrates that “Come Heavy” wasn’t just a fluke. It’s this diversity in the tracks that make The Grinding Wheel far more interesting than White Devil Armory, or any of Overkill’s recent work.

All that being said, when the album isn’t being a mish-mash of Overkill’s talents, it’s being a damn fine thrash album. The speed and intensity of “The Wheel” and “Red, White & Blue” feel very reminiscent of that Ironbound/Electric Age return to proper thrash form. However, while I ended up liking these tracks, I was far more interested in seeing how Overkill would experiment and change up their sound with every track.

As for the actual talent of the band, it’s kind of hard to say. Overkill, like Testament or any other thrash band not part of The Big 4 continues to both not get any better but also not any worse. As such, Blitz’s vocals are still top notch, and Verni’s bass is just as thick and complex as ever. The overall production is also very reminiscent of White Devil Armory; very thick bass and very crunchy guitars with Blitz’s vocals at the front of the chaos.

While I was almost asleep as the album opened, The Grinding Wheel proved to me that Overkill has more life left in them than anyone (including myself) gave them credit for. This album is a representation of just how far a band can come with a little bit of experimentation and talent. It’s a welcome breath of fresh air in the current thrash scene.

8/10