Overkill - Feel the Fire (1985)

A lot of people would probably start a review of this album off by telling a story of how they heard 'Feel the Fire' in their teen years and how it changed their opinions of music and solidified themselves as hardcore thrash metal fans and all that, but Overkill was one of many classic thrash metal bands that I simply missed in my early teen metal years and didn't even hear or really know much about until I was about eighteen years old. I remember in those days randomly coming across their albums, 'Taking Over' & 'Horrorscope' and although liking what I heard musically, for some reason Bobby Ellsworth's vocals somehow put me off. During the past decade I've heard most of the newer recordings from Overkill and generally found them to be enjoyable, yet I'd completely forgotten that the band had a history dating back to the formulative years of thrash metal. However as luck would have it I recently stumbled upon a copy of this debut album of theirs and was honestly blown away with it.

Rotten to the core in '85

Overkill's roots date back to roughly 1980 when a punk band by the name of The Lubricunts folded. This new band who eventually became Overkill began playing punk covers initially, but would in time cover metal classics of the early 80's and finally became a serious unit and started writing their own material and eventually debuted with the 'Power in Black' demo in '83. Another demo and EP would follow in '84, when finally in '85, their debut, 'Feel the Fire' was unleashed through Megaforce Records.

Seven of the songs on this debut were re-recordings from their earlier demos and as such these songs show more of a speed/thrash metal sound rather than the more heavy aggressiveness that would soon enough be associated with the band on, 'Taking Over.' So, in a way a lot of songs are more mid-paced, such is the case with songs like the title track or 'Overkill, perhaps displaying Iron Maiden influences within these songs by the pace and the melodic riffing rather than just full on thrashin' madness like many others were doing at the time. You've also just got to love the fist pumping catchiness of a song like, 'Rotten to the Core' or 'There's no Tomorrow.' Nevertheless, songs like, 'Hammerhead' or 'Blood and Iron,' which were the new songs at the time, are quite fast and hostile with tons of energy and wildness to go around.

There's no denying the massive guitar work of this album and Bobby Gustafson's exceptional skills. Every song has a riff to rouse attention and some of the solos absolutely force the listener to air guitar with mad ferocity. Rat Skates drum work is fair enough, but seems somewhat buried and hollowed due to the lousy production, and the same is the case with the D.D.'s bass guitar, though he does have his moments of brilliance, such as on the beginning of the title track. Of course Bobby's vocals are immense, which is weird that I feel this way when they originally turned me off years and years ago. Surely the man has one of the most powerful voices in metal with his distinctive wails and high pitched screams, and although he'd sound a bit different and more focused on future albums I love his absolutely raw and insane delivery here.

In the end this is quite a massive debut and why Overkill didn't infect and possess me when I was a stupid kid is beyond me, but maybe that's the problem, I was just a stupid kid. In any case, 'Feel the Fire' is an exceptional album that kicked off one of the most enduring and successful thrash metal careers out there.