Overkill hits a slight road bump with album # 3
Lets get to the review of 1988's "Under the Influence" I still have the original cassette that I bought when this was released in 1988 and I can say that even then I was a bit disspointed with the album. I have been an Overkill fan since the release of 1987's "Taking Over" I am glad that they still are playing music today, and even though the have combined elements of more straight-foward heavy metal with Thrash on newer albums, they are one of the few Thrash bands from the 80's that still are making good music. The album starts out great with "Shred" but "Never say Never" is a dud. "Hello from the Gutter" is easily the best song on the album" and is followed by decent "Mad Gone World" and the awesome "Brianfade" "Drunken Wisdom" is a good thrash song musically, but the lyrics are really bad. "End of the Line", "Head First" are pretty mediocre, and Overkill III lacks the energy of the first two parts. Even still out of nine tracks, Five are excellent, three are mediocre, and one is just plain bad. So even though the album as a whole only has really one horrid song, why only 3 stars? Reason being is that this album really pulls away from the 4 other excellent albums recorded from 1985-1991. "Feel the Fire", "Taking Over", "Years of Decay", and "Horrorscope" are true Overkill classics, each one being a five star effort, yet "Under the Influence" seems to dumb down a bit, and its almost like the black sheep of the family. Its no where near as bad as "W. F. O" and "The Killing Kind" (the two Overkill albums that I hate) but its still not up to the par during Overkill's Glory Years.
He was thrilled!
He loves METAL and he was so happy that I got this for him. My husband was thrilled that I bought this for him.
Hello from The Gutter We've Been Expecting You!
It's thrash metal with a sense of humor which is why I enjoy listening to this and is a personal favorite in my cd collection. Overkill's Under The Influence is one of those fun loving metal albums you enjoy banging your head to. Personal favorites are Shred, Mad Gone World, Drunken Wisdom and of course their well known single Hello From The Gutter a video they play quite a bit on Vh1 Classic's Metal Mania. Anyway get this album it's awesome.
Their best album
In fact you can hear every instrument clearly especially the bassplaying from DD Verni which is great on this record. This album is great and even when many people think the production of Under the Influence is not good i think they are wrong.
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Often ignored due to the strange production
Production isn't everything, and this album proves it, people seem to complain about the production alot. . why. I've heard MUCH worse production than this, the production isn't THAT bad!, sometimes good production can ruin an album, if the production is overdone.
Anyways, onto the album, this is Overkills 3rd offering, after surprising everyone with their stellar debate "Feel The Fire", then the best CD they've ever done came second "Taking Over", could they top that? In my opinion, no, but is this and the following 2 albums great? Indeed!, the song writing is a bit different than the previous 2, but still Thrash.
Bobby Blitz must've smoked alot of cigarettes after "Taking Over", because this is where his rasp begins, still uses the melodic kind of vocals though, like on the previous 2, but in spots, he gets really raspy, and would continue this more on the next 2 releases, great vocalist!
Bobby Gustafson is truely a shredder, great riffs, heavy, fast most the time, and catchy as all hell, great solos, an underrated guitarist.
D. D Verni is a great bassist, great bass lines, just listen to the bass solo in "Never Say Never" excellent!
This is the first album containing Sid Flack, who replaces Rat Skates, and the change is obvious, Sid is great though, alot of nice fills and stuff, his work would show better on the next album "The Years of Decay" though.
"Shred" A very strong opener, great opening riff, great riffs all throughout, very catchy too, SHRED!
"Never Say Never" Starts out a bit slower, then moves into a nice mid paced riff, then another nice riff, then comes the great bass solo by D. D!
"Hello From The Gutter" Everyone knows this song, it's their most popular song, this is how I got into them, I saw the video for this back in the day on Headbangers Ball, great song.
"Mad Gone World" is kind of mid paced to begin, with a nice set of riffs, it gets quite a bit faster during the chorus though, just listen to that riff after the first chorus!
"Brainfade" Not quite as strong as the first 4, but still enjoyable, has a very catchy chorus.
"Drunken Wisdom" Starts out with a nice classical guitar, this is where the pace slows down alot, more groove in this one, but a great song.
"End of the Line" is mostly mid paced, with a killer solo.
"Head First", Starts out with another great bass solo by D. D, and works it's way into the first riff, then another Bass lead by D. D, and yet again, works it's way into the riff, He's heard really nice on this song, great song.
"Overkill lll (Under The Influence)" The last song of the Overkill trilogy, a killer track, not quite as good as part 2, but really good, a nice way to close the album, and end the trilogy.
This is an underrated album, other than "Hello From The Gutter", nothing else off this got really noticed. And the production isn't that bad people, the only thing that is kind of pushed back is the drums, but you can still hear them well. So if you've heard "Feel The Fire" and "Taking Over" and want to hear Overkill with a change on the skins, and the songwriting, check this one out. Also check out "The Years of Decay" and "Horrorscope" for more greatness!
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You can see a complete list of all Overkill discography, or go back to the Overkill tabs
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