OVERKILL — Scorched (review)

OVERKILL — Scorched album cover Album · 2023 · Thrash Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
UMUR
"Scorched" is the twenty-first full-length studio album by US, New York based thrash/heavy metal act Overkill. The album was released through Nuclear Blast in April 2023. It´s the successor to "The Wings Of War" from February 2019. Overkill ususally have 2-3 years between album releases (with a good portion of touring in between), but the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown made the writing and recording process for "Scorched" a little longer than usual.

Stylistically you won´t notice any difference though as "Scorched" sounds unmistakably like another post-"Ironbound" (2010) album release from Overkill. Hard edged, groove laden, and attitude loaded thrash metal with nods towards traditional heavy metal and speed metal. Lead vocalist Bobby "Blitz" Ellsworth as always screams his lungs out with his raw sounding voice and snarling attitude while the band delivers a tight instrumental performance behind him.

The album opens with the title track, which features a lead guitar theme performed by Dave Links, which makes me think of AC/DC´s "Thunderstruck", and it´s definitely a standout track on the album. "Scorched" is otherwise not an album featuring many standout tracks, but it´s still a high quality album throughout and there are only a few tracks I´d say are close to the filler catagory, and those tracks are still good quality tracks, because of the generally high quality output of Overkill.

"Scorched" is well produced, featuring a clear, detailed, and powerful sounding production job, which suits the material well. Upon conclusion "Scorched" worst crime is probably that it sounds a lot like the last 5-6 albums from Overkill, but if you haven´t gotten used to the consistency (or if you put on the negative glasses...the stagnation) of the band´s sound by now, you probably never will. A 3.5 - 4 star (75%) rating is deserved.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

Rot Stink Rip Death Metal
TOMBSTONER
Buy this album from MMA partners
Human Rosin Melodic Metalcore
HATE BREEDER
Buy this album from MMA partners
Through The Hell Hardcore Punk
ENEMY 906
Buy this album from MMA partners
Lightmatter: Rebirth Deathcore
EARTHGAZER
Buy this album from MMA partners
Eye Of Horus (Lightmatter EP Pt. 2) Deathcore
EARTHGAZER
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

Agremorta - Adrocitas (Official Lyric Video)
AGREMORTA
Bosh66· 5 days ago
Agremorta - Ploratus Umbra (Official Lyric Video)
AGREMORTA
Bosh66· 5 days ago
Agremorta - Vertex Membrana (Official Lyric Video)
AGREMORTA
Bosh66· 5 days ago
HAIL SPIRIT NOIR - The Temple Of Curved Space (Official Track Stream)
HAIL SPIRIT NOIR
adg211288· 5 days ago
In Sulfur - The Gate (OFFICIAL VIDEO) 2022
IN SULFUR
Bosh66· 6 days ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed