Overkill Fever

Overkill is always dependable. Twenty albums in, and this band just continues to be one of the best from the old guard that are still kicking around today. As soon as I heard that they had a new album, I knew that I was going to be picking it up and that it would most likely end up near the top of my list of favorite metal records for the year.

I've been a little slow to get to new releases this year, but once I started spinning the new Overkill album, Scorched, it quickly jumped into constant rotation. At first I was a bit hesitant about the song Fever, and it felt like a weak point in the album, but the more I listen to it, the more I like it. It is such a dark and brooding song, and Blitz's voice is so fucking perfect. It was definitely a grower for me, but it is quickly becoming one of my favorites from the record. Overkill can do no wrong.

The amber with green splatter was a bold choice, but I kind of like the look here. 1,000 pressed.

Hello From The Gutter

I've said it before on this blog, but it bears repeating... one of the biggest kicks that I get out of record collecting is when I pick up an old school metal record that was a big deal to me as a teen in the 80's. This isn't meant to diminish how much I love 90's hardcore records, or how exciting those record release and special tour covers can be, but man, once that nostalgia kicks in and I pick up an original pressing of an old thrash record... it brings me back to those days of youth, and that feeling is hard to beat.

It is ridiculous how long I've been after the first four Overkill albums. I love those early records so much that I made one of them my 2,000th post milestone. That's how important those albums are to me. Each one is a thrash classic, so I was very fucking excited to finally grab the Under The Influence record and complete my Overkill favorite four collection.

Under The Influence was released shortly after I graduated from High School, and the chances were high that this one was not far from the tape deck in my car for that entire summer.

2,000 Posts And Years Of Decay

Two thousand posts! It blows my mind to think that I've posted here 2,000 times. When I started this blog 15 years ago, it was just something to kill time and feed my record collecting obsession. I never had grand plans or goals, so to be sitting here typing out a milestone post like this and thinking about the hours and years that I've spent taking pictures and trying to come up with clever (and usually not so clever) things to say...it is kind of mind boggling. Time truly flies and I'm glad that I have this online document that tracks my years of collecting.

When I first noticed that I was approaching the 2,000 mark back at the end of November, I immediately started planning which record I should buy to celebrate the occasion. It was a tough choice, and since I'm never topping my 1,000th post, I decided to go with a record where the title would be a fun play on words for what I've put into this blog. The Years Of Decay.

I've been after the fourth Overkill album, The Years Of Decay, for years. Released in 1989, I didn't think that it would be too difficult to get my hands on a copy, but the task has proven to be tougher than I expected. Strangely, there are very few US sellers for this album, and if someone is selling it from the States, they have it listed at a ridiculous price or it is a cut out. After waiting a couple of years with this on my Discogs want list, I finally decided to focus on a Euro pressing where the prices were a bit lower and there were more options from sellers. Given how much I've wanted this record, and for how long I've been looking for one, it feels good to finally get my hands on one.

I ordered this record back in November, and it legit took two months to land in my mailbox. The postal service has been incredibly slow with the holidays, and I was starting to wonder if this was going to arrive in time. Fear that this record may not arrive pushed me to seek alternate records to fit the 2,000 post title, so I had ordered some back up records just in case The Years Of Decay fell through. Thankfully it finally got here, and was able to proceed as planned.

The Wings Of War

Overkill has been one of my favorite thrash bands for years, and their production level is off the charts. I mean, without fail, they release a new album every two or three years, and each record is just a powerhouse of thrash. How many bands keep up that level of consistency?

I'll admit, the new album, The Wings Of War, took a bit of time to really grab me. I've been stuck in a hair metal mindset quite a bit lately, and the first couple listens of the new Overkill record didn't leave much of an impression on me. However, these songs are starting to take hold with the last few spins, and I'm really starting to dig this album. There is a lot of great new metal albums coming down the pike this year, so it will be interesting to see where this Overkill record falls in my end of the year list. The band typically scores pretty high with me, but damn, they are going to be facing some tough competition this year.

I didn't even fuck around with colored vinyl for this record. All the colors looked gross, and with the packaging, black vinyl just looked better.

Live In Over-hausen

I'm not that big a fan of live albums, but I do love Overkill, so when preorders went up for Live at Overhausen, I felt obligated to pick up a copy of this two album set.

Back in 2016, Overkill played a show in Germany to celebrate the anniversary of their Feel The Fire and Horrorscope records, and were going to play those albums front to back in their entirety. I love these kinds of shows in a live setting, as you finally get to hear those deep tracks live, but I'm not sure how much we need that released as a live album. Still it's Overkill, so I couldn't resist.

Double albums for each set, and each was sold separately, so if you wanted both of them, you ended up with four pieces of vinyl. That's a lot of Overkill to commit to.

The packaging for these records isn't too exciting since the same insert is included with both albums, and the gatefold photo is the same as well. Thankfully they at least kept the back photo unique for the Feel The Fire and Horrorscope packages.

300 pressed on neon green vinyl for each.

1987 Is Taking Over

I love making lists. Putting together my annual Top 10 is something that I look forward to all year. Ranking records, and adjusting their placement brings out the obsessive nerd in me.

For a while now, I've been tossing around the idea of taking a trip back in time, and ranking the albums from years long gone. With so many holes in my record collection, my thought was that if I can rank them all in a given year, it would help me prioritize and focus on picking up those classics that I still don't own.

With this year marking the 30th anniversary for a lot of my favorite albums as a kid, I decided to kick off my list making with 1987.

As soon as I started putting the list together, two things became clear very quickly...one, with so many classics from my teenage years, 1987 may just be one of my favorite years for music ever...and two, I was missing an embarrassing amount of these albums on vinyl.

With the facts laid out in front of me, I got to work on my latest obsession...filling holes from '87.

For the longest time, I've held the opinion that Overkill stand as one of my favorite Thrash bands of all time. Sure, other bands have released albums superior to Overkill, but with their recent output, and their classic run from 1985 through at least 1989's The Years Of Decay, I have no problem giving the crown to them.

Yet, even as a total Overkill fanboy, my collection for the band is quite thin. I've made some false starts in picking some of those classic records, but I have never stuck with it, and after quick searches of Discogs and eBay, I typically push them to the side, with the promise that I'll get them next month.

Step one in my 1987 mission...quit fucking around with that Overkill collection.

After procrastinating on this record for so many years, it feels great to finally add it to the collection.

Mean, Green, Killing Machine

Since releasing their debut EP in 1985, Overkill have released a new album every two or three years. Rolling into 2017, Overkill offer up their eighteenth studio album, The Grinding Wheel. Damn. Outside of Motorhead, is there another band that has kept up that level of quality production?

Okay...ignore the fact that the gears on the front cover could never actually turn...once the first song kicks in, you know that I'm gonna move. As an Overkill fanboy, I can hang with all of their albums, and The Grinding Wheel does not disappoint. Goddamn Trouble rises to the top of the heap, but this whole album...especially first half are incredibly solid.

300 pressed on green vinyl.

Thanx For Nothin'

I was a huge fan of Overkill through my teen years. From '85 to '89 they had an amazing four album run that I lost my metalhead mind over. By the time their fifth album, Horrorscope, was released in 1991, Metal was a thing of my past, and I wasn't spending much time looking back. Hardcore was where it was at, and news of a new Overkill album did nothing to capture my attention.

In my defense, as we moved into the 90's, some Metal albums were starting to feel a little flat. A string of tried an true bands were just starting to not measure up anymore, and with guitarist Gustafson recently leaving Overkill, I played it safe, and just ignored their latest offering. It took me probably over 10 years to finally bother checking out Horrorscope, but when I finally did, it knocked me on my ass. While the album might not meet the high quality put forth by the first four albums, Horrorscope comes damn close.

When it was originally released in 1991, mainstream vinyl was dead in the US, and the only pressings were available from Europe.

2017 finally sees a US vinyl pressing of this great album. As I stood there in the record store, holding this album, I was torn... a part of me wanted to not rush into this reissue, and cooler heads were telling me to wait and chase down the original Euro press. That would have been the smart move, but sometimes I'm stupid and impatient. Instant gratification ruled the day, and I bought the reissue. Breaking the seal, and opening the vinyl when I got home, put me into buyers regret. Looks like the reissue went cheap and didn't include any kind of insert or lyric sheet like the original pressing. Fuck record stores. I should just stick to buying whatever I want through the internet.

10 Year Anniversary

Ten years ago today, I came up with the idea to start a blog to document the new vinyl that I was adding to my collection. I'd gotten into record collecting the previous year, and it completely consumed me. It was all that I could think about, and I would spend hours online searching eBay and checking messageboard posts, just to look at pictures of records. I figured that writing a blog about what I was buying would be a nice simple way to kill some time.

Over the years things exploded. This blog ended up being not only a way to burn some time on my obsession...it provided fuel to stoke those flames higher. Within a few years, I met dudes online that were doing the same kind of blogs, and it inspired me to step up my game. I had to take better photos, I had to write better, I needed to buy better records...and I needed to buy more of them, effectively doubling my post counts from 58 in 2008, to 116 in 2009. When I started the blog, $30 was crazy money for me to spend on a record...these days, $30 doesn't even make me pause to think about it. Shit got serious, and escalated quickly.

So here we are, ten years later, and first thing that I did this morning was bounce around on eBay and the discogs marketplace, wringing my hands over the decision of which record I should buy next. Ten years on and 1,242 posts later, and the obsession is still going strong.

For this ten year anniversary, I wanted to post something special. I spent weeks going over some big ticket possibilities that I wanted to chase down for this milestone. Some of them didn't work out, and in the end I figured that the Overkill 10 year anniversary live record, Wrecking Your Neck, would fit the theme perfectly.

Released in 1995, when vinyl was considered a dying format, this live album was only pressed on wax in Germany, so trying to track down a copy can be a bit of work. I found a few available on eBay, but none of them were in great condition. I'm sure that the minimalist packaging doesn't help, and the copies that I'd seen had plenty of ringwear. There was a copy on discogs, that was listed as "Like new. Collector's copy.", and while the price was a bit higher, I didn't mind spending the extra money to get the best.

My favorite part of this live record is that I'm really not that familiar with the majority of the songs on here. I know the first four Overkill albums, from Feel the Fire through The Years of Decay, like the back of my hand...but the few albums after that haven't seen a lot of action for me. With this live set full of songs from Horrorscope, I Hear Black, and W.F.O., this is a cool snapshot of Overkill ten years into their run...and twenty years later, it is awesome that they are still going strong. I wonder how many more years I can keep this blog going...

Bloodletting From The Underground

Overkill are one of my favorite Thrash bands of all time, so it was with shock and embarrassment when I recently discovered that not only did I not own a copy of their Bloodletting album, but I'd actually never even heard it. Of course, when it was released back in 2000, I wasn't really listening to very much metal, and a new Overkill album didn't even cause a blip on my music radar.

I'd stopped paying attention to Overkill after 1989's amazing The Years Of Decay album, and only started to make up for lost time with the release of Immortalis in 2007. At that time, I was surprised to find that Overkill had kept chugging along through those dark days for Metal, and I started picking up the ten albums that I'd missed while I'd had my head buried in Hardcore. For one reason or another, Bloodletting got missed in this process.

The late 90's and early 00's were not only a dark time for Metal, but also for vinyl. When I started looking for a copy of Bloodletting, I soon discovered that it had only been released on CD...and even CD pressings for this album were commanding a rather high dollar amount on eBay and discogs. Dropping $30 for a used CD just wasn't an option, so I sat back and played the waiting game.

It's all about the timing, and this time it was in my favor. While I was patiently waiting for a cheap CD to appear, I noticed that Nuclear Blast was pressing some of the late 90's Overkill on vinyl for the first time. This was the best news I could hear at the time, and I quickly jumped at the opportunity to grab each one that was being released.

Thankfully Bloodletting was one of the three albums that were finally getting pressed to vinyl. Man, what a solid Metal album. I'm so glad to finally have a copy in my collection.

Another Overkill album to finally see a release on vinyl is their all covers album, Coverkill.

While not a mandatory album, this is still a cool release of Overkill paying homage to their influences. It is a fun spin every once in a while, but why would Nuclear Blast reissue this one and not Necroshine instead?

To complete this trilogy, Nuclear Blast also gives From The Underground And Below it's first vinyl pressing. Man, this record is one of my favorite Overkill records from the 90's. What an underrated album. I'd love to see Overkill bring some of these songs back into their live set list.

All three are limited to 300 pressed on green colored vinyl.

Great job with this reissue campaign, Nuclear Blast. How about you also do W.F.O., Necroshine and a proper vinyl release of Immortalis, and we can call it good. Thanks.

Bats In The Belfry

After Christmas, it seemed like eBay was a ghost town. All the records that I was watching with the thought of "I'll take it if I can get it for a good price", were just falling into my lap. No one else was bidding, and the deals were too good to pass up. I'd already spent a lot more money than I'd wanted to this month, but then I saw Overkill's ReliXIV album on vinyl with a low starting bid...once again, I'd found myself as the only bidder.

Overkill are one of my favorite Metal bands of all time. They first released their Power In Black demo in 1983, and here they are, over thirty years later, still putting out consistently impressive albums. How many bands can you name that have that strong of a track record? Impressive as fuck.

As much as I love Overkill, my record collection for them is pathetic. I hope to remedy this over the coming year, and the first step is with their 2005 album, ReliXIV. While this album did get the vinyl reissue treatment in 2013, I made sure that I grabbed the original first press that was on some label out of Sweden. Vinyl obviously wasn't a hot commodity back in 2005, but I'm impressed to see that someone still cared enough to release it on wax.

Overkill Armory

I'm a huge fan of Overkill. I've loved them since 1987, when I first heard Taking Over...plus their last three albums, Immortalis, Ironbound, and The Electric Age, have all been solid gold. Once pre-orders were announced over at Nuclear Blast for the band's newest album, White Devil Armory, I jumped in and placed my order.

Some time later, when release day rolled around, I was still sitting here waiting for my vinyl to arrive. Weeks pass without my record arriving in the mail, but I figure that it was just your typical delay with vinyl pressing plants. I'm patient, so I don't mind waiting. A few more weeks pass, and now I'm starting to get a little anxious. I know that this shit happens all the time with smaller Hardcore labels, but I wouldn't expect this from a big time label like Nuclear Blast. Out of curiosity, I start scanning through my paypal emails, looking to see when I might have placed the order. I'm stumped. I can't find my email receipt anywhere.

Turns out, I apparently hadn't ordered it as I'd thought. I clearly remember looking at it in the Nuclear Blast store, but I must not have pulled the trigger at that time. Damn. Am I buying that many records, that I can't keep straight what I've ordered and what I haven't? Hashtag record collector problems.

Heading back to the store, the original press on clear vinyl with green splatter had sold out, leaving me with only a black vinyl option. I suppose that I could have hunted down more limited color vinyl options by buying overseas, but, black vinyl works just fine.

The album itself is good. It sounds like an Overkill record, but the first couple of listens left me a little underwhelmed, and didn't seem as strong as the previous albums. I've listened to it a few times since I've received it, and it has grown on me, and I'm enjoying it more and more, as I become more familiar with the songs. Incredible to think that it has been 31 years since Overkill's first demo tape, and with 17 studio albums under their belts, they still keep thrashing out strong material.

Overkillin' It Live

The Legends Of Thrash tour is rolling through Massachusetts tonight, and I'll be heading down to wreck my neck to Overkill, Kreator, and Warbringer. I haven't seen Kreator since their 1990 tour for Coma Of Souls, when they played The Channel in Boston, so I'm really looking forward to their set. Overkill...well, Overkill are one of my favorite bands, and the last couple times that I've seen them, they have played a tight set with a ton of energy. No doubt they will steal the show.

So before I head out let's get this post up for Overkill's new live 10 inch record. I normally wouldn't be too interested in a live 10 inch, but come on...it's Overkill, so there was no way I was going to pass it by.

There are only four songs on this record, and surprisingly not one of them is from Overkill's latest album. The closest we get is Walk Through Fire from their 2007 album, Immortalis. There are no over played classics on here either, which is cool and kind of refreshing.

Limited to 250 on red vinyl, with those cool hand numbered stickers that Nuclear Blast uses for their limited colored vinyl.

Over Killbox 13

Back at the end of September, I was listening to my last.fm radio station, and Overkill's Evil Never Dies came up in the playlist. Now I'm a huge fan of Overkill, but hearing that song just struck a chord in me, and set me off on a mission to find some vinyl for the band. Initially, I was on the hunt for some of their older albums...the classics from the 80's, like The Years Of Decay or Under The Influence...but in the end, I decided to go with a copy of their 2003 album, Killbox 13.

The main reason that I chose to buy this album was because I was hoping that it was the pressing the Night Of The Vinyl Dead had done back in 2009. I wasn't aware of any other vinyl pressing for this LP, and instead of really reading the item description on eBay, I just clicked ADD TO CART. The NOTVD pressings are amazing, and I wish that I could afford more of their releases. They are incredibly limited, and beautifully packaged. They are also extremely expensive. Turns out, the pressing that I ordered was still an import, and still limited, but it was not the NOTVD pressing that I was hoping for, and therefore it wasn't nearly as cool. Instead, this was a new 2012 pressing from some UK label named The Vinyl Countdown.

Killbox 13 is far from my favorite record from the band, but is still a solid release, and there really is no such thing as bad Overkill.

Hand numbered out of 1,000 pressed.

Still Killing It

I can't believe that big Metal labels are still dragging their feet on pressing vinyl for North America. Just about every new release from a Metal band that I've bought this year has been an import. Oh well, I guess if I want it on vinyl, I'll have to pay for it.

With Overkill's latest album, The Electric Age, Nuclear Blast gives us six different options for colored vinyl, plus a picture disc. Damn, that is a lot of choices. Plus, some of them were pressed in small amounts...100 on neon yellow, and 150 each of red and white vinyl. I don't get stupid over Metal vinyl, like I do for Hardcore, so one copy is enough for me. Still, I can't help but think how nice it would be to have one of those rare colors in my collection.

I've always been a big fan of Overkill, and would chose them over both Anthrax and Megadeth in my personal Big Four list. Their last couple of albums, Immortalis and Ironbound, have been excellent Thrash records, and with The Electric Age, Overkill keep the streak going. Easily one of my favorite Metal records for this year.

Preparing For The Kill

With Overkill's 15th studio album, Ironbound, set to be released in a couple of weeks, and with the band celebrating the 25th anniversary of their first LP, Feel The Fire, I figured that it was time to finally pick up the reissue on colored vinyl from last year.

This has to be my favorite Overkill record...pure thrash brilliance. Man, this album is a killer. This one, along with their next three albums, should have secured their place in Big Four of thrash. I'm looking forward to seeing them play in Massachusetts this April with Evile and Warbringer for Killfest 2010.

Reissued on red and orange colored vinyl. Limited and hand numbered, 424 of 500 pressed.


While I'm glad that Megaforce and the band decided to reissue Feel The Fire on vinyl, I've got some problems with some of the packaging. I've got the original pressing, on the right above, and I'm not sure why they felt the need to mess with the original cover design. The new cover photo is just less crisp and clear.

I can live with changes on the front cover, but the back cover is a mess. Instead of the individual photos of the band members, they decided to just put a live shot on the back. This wouldn't be too bad, except that while Feel The Fire was originally released in 1985, the live photo was from their 1987 EP, Fuck You. Continuity issues bug me.

Jeff's Bargain Basement

A while back, Jeff and I spent another afternoon in his basement, flipping through old records and just generally kicking back, listening and talking nothing but music. It was really the first time that I had gone through his Heavy Metal section, and numerous times I needed to wipe the drool from my chin. So many amazing records. Raven, Savatage, early Megadeth and Manowar, Demon, Witchfinder General....damn, I could go on and on. I was literally jealous of his collection. Jeff is a few years older than me, so he grew up buying vinyl in the early 80's, totally catching Metal as it started to take off. I was a few years late to the scene. Plus, when I started buying music, CDs were starting to take off so there was a very small period where I was buying music on vinyl. I look back now, and remember seeing all those great Metal records in the stores, but instead of vinyl, I bought it on cassette or CD. If I had a time machine...

Jeff sold me some of the records that he no longer wanted, or they were ones that he had originally bought, but never got into them. He still owed me some money for the Black Sabbath tickets from the concert back in the Spring, so we made a trade to pay off that debt.

• Virus : Force Recon - I'm pretty sure that Paul owned this on cassette when we were younger. I couldn't remember what it sounded like, so I put it on Jeff's turntable. Pretty decent mid-80's thrash, so I grabbed it. Still trying to find the mp3's on Soulseek so that I can burn it to CD.
• Vicious Rumors : Soldiers of the Night - I had never heard of this 80's Metal band, but I had read a lot of reviews in The Collectors Guide to Heavy Metal - Volume 2, and recognized the record label, Shrapnel, that this album was on. I put this one on the turntable as well. Pretty standard Metal fare, but I did want it simply because of the historical significance of the record label.
• Overkill : Taking Over - Now this is what I had come for. I remember Jeff talking about owning this record from a past conversation, and I knew that he had no interest in it, so I was hoping to walk away with it. This album is pure Thrash classic. One of my favorite records from this genre.
• Helloween : Judas - Just an E.P. from Helloween, but it was from their early days...around the same time as the Walls of Jericho album, which was another one that Paul owned. This was back when the band was doing a good job of ripping off the Judas Priest sound. Good stuff.
• Fates Warning : The Spectre Within - Funny, I never owned anything by this band, but again, Paul had an album by them. I didn't remember much about the band except that I thought that the album that Paul owned was pretty dull, progressive Metal in the same vein as Queensryche (although not nearly as good). The Spectre Within was an early album and it rocks a little harder, plus it was an early release on Metal Blade Records, so again, I took it for historical significance.


In cleaning out the duplicates in his collection, Jeff handed me a few records from The Doors for free. No need to go into each one, but I believe that Strange Days is the only vinyl from the band that I don't own. As a collector I also have the box set from them, where each CD is packaged in a replica sleeve to look like the original vinyl release, complete with gatefoldsleeves and inserts.



And then there was the stack of duplicates and various 12 inch singles that he bundled together and sold to me for $10.
• The Who : Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy - A compilation of hits, and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this album. Seriously, I never thought that I could listen to Pinball Wizard one more time, yet here on the album, I found myself singing right along.
• The Who : Live at Leeds - When Jeff played this for me the last time I was over, I was floored at how heavy the guitars sounded on this live album. The guitar sound for Young Man Blues is just killer. I had tried to get into this band previously and they did nothing for me. This album though, this one kept my attention.
• Black Sabbath : Never Say Die - Certainly not their best, but that title track still kicks ass. The only pressing that I had of this, other than the CD copies from the box set and the Castle remaster that I have, was the Earmark Re-issue out of Italy. This one is the original U.S. pressing. Nice addition to my slow growing Sabbath collection.
• Elf : Trying to Burn the Sun - Before Ronnie James Dio became a Heavy Metal icon though bands like Rainbow, Black Sabbath and Dio, he fronted Elf, which was more of a bluesy/roots rock band from the early 70's. Not nearly as good as the bands he would sing for down the road, but it is still cool to hear his voice from those early days.
• Vile : Solution - I still haven't listened to this entire record yet. I was surprised to find it in Jeff's collection, as it is straight up raw punk. Loud, fast and dangerous, with a strong "I don't give a fuck" attitude. Jeff said that he doesn't think that he had ever listened to the entire thing. He bought it during a time in his musical life where he was searching for something new and interesting when Heavy Metal started to bore him.
• Nuclear Assault : Good Times Bad Times - Yes, they covered the Led Zeppelin song, and there was a time where I actually thought this was much better than the original. The b-side is a song that never made it to one of their albums, so I grabbed this 12 inch single.
• Thin Lizzy : Cold Sweat - Holy shit, this song is so good. Great heavy guitar, and a hook that won't quit. This 12 inch single is from the end of the bands career...good rockin' stuff.
• Hear n Aid : Stars - Yeah, the project pulled together by Vivian Campbell and Jimmy Bain from the original Dio band, as a Heavy Metal kind of We Are The World song to raise money for the hungry. Metal singers came from all over to participate in this worthwhile cause, and the song just kicks ass.