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Release Date: September 3rd, 1991
Record Label: Megaforce
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After three studio albums and years of heavy touring, Overkill finally gained a taste of mainstream success with their 1989 thrash classic "The Years of Decay." The opening song, "Elimination" in particular proved to be a hit on MTV's Headbanger's Ball. It was both a creative and commercial success, and a significant album in the band's career.
And then guitarist/co-songwriter extraordinaire Bobby Gustafson left the band. Needless to say, the remaining creative forces in the band, bassist D.D. Verni and vocalist Bobby "Blitz" Ellsworth, were now forced to live up to immensely high expectations. The band began by recruiting not one replacement for Gustafson, but two. The new members, Rob Cannavino and Merritt Grant, gave outstanding performances on this album. Though neither had the distinctive tone of Gustafson (the riffs to "Wrecking Crew" and "Elimination" would never sound truly right without him on the axe), they were a hell of a lot more aggressive in their playing. The two added a more technical element to the songs, and their frenzied dueling solos were in a far more "traditional" thrash metal style than Gustafson's.
Commercially, this record might have been seen as a disappointment. Unlike "The Years of Decay," "Horroscope" didn't have a successful single to its name, and the album failed to climb the charts. Artistically however, "Horrorscope" was an absolute triumph. This album was faster, heavier, and plain meaner than any of Overkill's prior records. Terry Date gave the band a completely modern production: every instrument was audible, gated snare drums were absent and every song sounded vicious enough to tear a room apart. Blitz (who seems incapable of giving a less than great vocal performance) and Verni met their challenge in spades, and from this point on, it seemed that the band could do no wrong (let's pretend that it's 1991 and that "I Hear Black" hadn't been recorded yet).
For five cuts straight, the band refuses to relent from a pure thrash assault. "Coma" begins with a quiet, yet utterly eerie, clean guitar intro, but after Blitz whispers "go to sleep," the song is set ablaze with a riff more aggressive than anything the group had ever recorded before. When drummer Sid Falck finally kicks in his double bass drums, the Cannavino and Grant guitar team unleash a massively heavy, yet pure thrash riff that leads into Blitz's vocals. The entire song is a pure heavy metal pleasure to listen to, and remains a fan favorite. There are enough top of the line riffs in "Coma" to make the entire album successful, but the band doesn't stop there. "Infectious" and "Blood Money" are as good of a one-two punch as the band ever did. "Blood Money" in particular, rides a mammoth riff throughout the entire song that is impossible to get out of your head. "Thanx For Nothing" begins as a mid-tempo thrasher, but changes speed repeatedly throughout, and remains a great song to headbang to for its whole duration (again, thanks to a set of monster riffs).
"Bare Bones" initially bucks the thrashing trend with an eerie piano intro and its production. Blitz's vocals are uncharacteristically buried in the mix, and some of the riffs take on a doom metal vibe. The song makes up for it with plenty of speed and double bass drumming in sections of the song, but at as a whole, the song is a slight departure from the thrash of the prior cuts. The title track goes even farther, being a slow burner for its full duration. It really does work however, and provides a nice break from the neck-snapping qualities of the prior half of the album. "New Machine" is another mid-tempo track, with a chorus made for clapping along. It isn't a bad track by any means whatsoever, but it doesn't stand out in a significant way like the previous songs.
The band's cover of "Frankenstein" by the Edgar Winter Band comes off as pretty left-field. Their cover begins very faithfully, with Grant and Cannavino hitting the opening solos note for note. When the band knocks the tempo up on it, they add their own stamp on it however, and a few changes are made. Falck surprisingly holds back on the song's drum solo, and the keyboard solo is replaced by tapping runs from Grant and Cannavino. "Frankenstein" is nowhere in a league with Overkill's other covers, but it is enjoyable nonetheless. "Live Young, Die Free" returns to the wild-eyed thrash of the first half of the album. It is a welcome return to speed since the album comes close to losing momentum with the two slower tracks. "Nice Day... For A Funeral" brings out Overkill's progressive side that they had experimented with on "The Years of Decay." The song is highlighted by a long guitar solo in the middle, complete with harmonies and trade-offs. The cut ends with a clean guitar outro segueing into "Soulitude." In what is as odd as it gets for Overkill, the song is half ballad, half early heavy metal rocker. The song builds in intensity until about halfway through, when the two axe-men bust out alarmingly bluesy solos. What prevents this song from being a cheesy hair metal power ballad is a very gothic and dark vibe throughout the song and of course, Blitz's high wail. Speaking of his voice, Bobby Blitz probably saves his best performance on this album for last, giving a fantastic, dynamic and emotional performance. The song and album end with a final burst of thrash, and one is left simply satisfied.
There is not a single track of filler on this album; every song is worthy of every listener's attention, and the album flat out rocks. If there is any flaw, is that the track order could have been more balanced to spread the raw thrashers out instead of stacking them all at the beginning. Blitz and Verni absolutely rose to the challenge of following up "The Years of Decay," and wrote their greatest album until arguably 2010's "Ironbound." Simply put, this album is essential listening for any fan of fast, neck-breaking, unadulterated thrash metal.
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