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.
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