siLLy puPPy OVERKILL is one of those bands that’s been around for-friggin-EVER! They really formed all the way back in 1980 and throughout the decades only lead singer Bobby “Blitz” Ellsworth and bassist D.D. Verni have been in the band since the beginning. Understanding the sound of OVERKILL has a lot to do with their origins. Not only are the obvious time period offerings of NWOHM influences in your face on their debut FEEL THE FIRE which came out in the nascent thrash metal years of 1985 but this band originally emerged from the ashes of Verni’s punk band The Lubricants.”

Album number one has all the elements of punk enthusiasm and crossover rhythmic qualities but at this point mostly resides in the melodic classic metal realms with bands like Iron Maiden and to a lesser extent Judas Priest being high on the altar of worship. At this point thrash metal had pretty much gone through musical mitosis to create a separate and distinct sub-genre within the metal universe but OVERKILL lean more towards the traditional side with their melodies and vocal deliveries here but offer up a thrashy musical energetic frenzy of guitar, bass and drums around the trad melodic song structures.

At this point, in addition to Ellsworth and Verni, the band consists of Bobby Gustafson on guitar and Rat Skates (also of The Lubricators) on drums. It’s the musical talent of these musicians and the passionate energetic delivery that make this album a really stellar debut. The trad vs thrash formula works pretty good here. Ellsworth has an excellent voice for this type of thing. Although he was no Bruce Dickinson, he kinda reminds me of Geoff Tate nailing the lower octaves without the operatic cheesiness many bands were engaging in at this time. (Meaning he stayed within his limits)

While Iron Maiden is the key suspect of influence here especially on the latter tracks with the title track almost sounding like a long lost B-side of the mighty Maiden, OVERKILL does a fairly good job in keeping the rhythmic flow, lead guitar outbursts and songwriting in general in a fairly original camp. This is an extremely well done debut from a band in 1985 and although not approaching thrash god status such as early Metallica and Megadeth or even achieving the brilliance of their 21st century releases, FEEL THE FIRE nevertheless has an epic 80s trad vs thrash metal feel and one that i find an exciting listen. Good start for a band that not only proved longevity but incrementally keeps improving over the years.

UMUR "Feel The Fire" is the debut full-length studio album by US thrash/traditional metal act Overkill. The album was released through Megaforce Records in April 1985.

The band would soon take on a more thrashy sound (albeit still with traditional heavy metal elements) and playing style but on "Feel The Fire" I´d actually call the music traditional heavy metal with thrash metal leanings. Not completely unlike the genre tag I´d give "Fistful Of Metal (1984)" by Anthrax. I hear quite a few NWoBHM influences in the music. Lead vocalist Bobby "Blitz" Ellsworth sings both raw type vocals and more melodic styled vocals. He is not a "clean" vocalist by any means though. The music is loaded with great energy, blistering guitar solos courtesy of Bobby Gustafson and a relatively tight and well playing rythm section.

While the album features a pretty unpolished and raw sound production, the message comes through loud and clear. "Feel The Fire" is all about loving heavy metal and having fun with playing music. Overkill perform with the right amount of energy and hard working sweaty attitude to convince even those who doubt. The songwriting is a bit imature in places but there are some really great tracks on the album. "Rotten to the Core" is probably the greatest "classic". Personally I prefer later material by the band but a 3 star (60%) rating isn´t completely unfair.