Overkill - "What I'm Missin'"

So I'm contemplating a "Metal song of the Day" feature to help keep this blog lively on top of everything else I do. I hope you enjoy today's selection!

The Years of Decay: A Brief Look At the Last Year For Me

This is the day before my 24th Birthday and I'm psyched about how far I've come over the past year. When I turned 23, my life sucked; I had just been turned down for a job at Miskeen Originals in their advertising department, I was a week away from being laid-off from my job at Tech Tattoo (a kiosk I worked at in the King of Prussia Mall) and I was nearly broke. I spent the next 3 months staring into an abyss of my own personal demise, one that was filled with all my utilities being shut off, being broke, losing my house... losing everything.

Then... hope.

Around April of 2008, I was working as a dishwasher for $7 an hour at a bar/wanna-be-upscale restaurant in the Northern Liberties section of Philly. I was trying to quit as soon as possible, and I had an out: A job at a company working full-time as a web and graphic designer. I quickly was hired for the job... the same week I was fired from the dishwasher job. Worked out pretty well.

By October, I had finally gotten a handle on things: Bills getting worked out, actually getting by and surviving was possible... By December, I had fallen into a working-class mindset and was actually putting up with having to work 10-hour shifts (I normally work 8) in order to make up time I lost (Flex-time!), living off $40 for 2 weeks, and met someone great.

Today, I look at the past year and all that I've went through, all that I've seen, all that I've enjoyed, and all that I've been forced to suffer to get to this point. I have seen many great people and great minds lost this year, a massive retail bust, and the election of a new president. I've been forced to stoop to levels I never thought I would have to go in order to survive, and my reward was a great career in my chosen field, some great friends, an excellent experience, and finally some relief from my bills.

For the first time in what feels like forever, things are looking up again.

In tribute to that last year, both for the bad and the good, one of my favorite bands with one of my favorite songs ever: Overkill "The Years of Decay".

8-Album Mind: Here's to The Old School!

Overkill - Necroshine ♠♠♠♠
Overkill - Killbox 13 ♠♠♠♠
Overkill - Relix IV ♠♠♠
Overkill - Immortalis ♠♠♠ REVIEW
Ozzfest 2002 ♠ SOLD
Ozzy Osbourne - Diary of a Madman ♠♠♠
Overkill - Extended Versions ♠♠♠♠♠

Overkill die-hards will notice that I skipped two big (and if you follow the band, they're big) releases, namely the incredible album Bloodletting and the live album that followed, Wrecking Everything. They're not here only because today was a kinda throw-away day at work (we're throwing this big-ass party tomorrow), so I decided to save it for when I got home and just draw. Look for them tomorrow or Sunday.

That aside, not much to say today. Killbox 13, Relix IV, and the Ozzfest CD had their last chances today, and it may shock you that I did list Overkill as a possible cut. After Bloodletting, it seemed that age his Overkill like a ton of bricks, their more recent albums being heavy but not as memoriable. Killbox 13 was incredible in every aspect; incredibly heavy, brilliant lyrics, and a very intestesting album. Relix IV still isn't as good to me, and Immortalis still kinda sits (save a few tracks).

It's also worth noting that die-hard fans also don't exactly like "Extended Version" because, like the rest of the BMG series, it's just a live album they already did made into a one-disc comp. Oddly enough, for that reason alone, this albums succeds! It's all killer, no filler, and going from "Hello from the Gutter" to "Elimination" simply rips and tears! Great disc, definitely get this if your either are a fair-weather fan or not!

Meanwhile, the Ozzfest CD is on the way out. When I got this album, it was the fall of 2002 and in the looming shadow of a war with Iraq. The anti-war vibe was strong, not only with the informed public who knew better (the vocal "minority") and the sentiment of that feeling was strong at that Ozzfest, with "War Pigs" opening the album. More than anything, nostalgia has made me keep this disc because man does it suck! Yeah, Drowning Pool covered "Creeping Death", but so what? It was a mediocre cover by a mediocre band. The fact that bands like Adema got record deals is just sad. If anything, I may keep a copy of Andrew WK basically struggling with Kelly Osboure to sing "She is Beautiful" and Zakk Wylde with Soil singing their only decent song "Halo".

"Diary of a Madman" is a simply brilliant album. Now, you may wonder why "Blizard of Ozz" isn't listed first and it's simple; I'm an idiot who thought that not onlt did this precede that album, but I always thought this was an EP. No, you read that right, I always thought this was an EP. But that's only because it's one of the few albums from Ozzy I bought that had the smaller cover. Oh, and I sold Blizzard of Ozz. Why? It was a great album, but it was also the one where $haron Osbourne had the original drums and bass parts re-recorded. If I can, I'll but the ORIGINAL instead.

8-Album Mind: Bastard Nation

OVERKILL

• The Years of Decay ♠♠♠♠
• Horrorscope ♠♠♠♠♠
• I Hear Black ♠♠♠
• W.F.O. ♠♠♠♠
• Wrecking Your Neck ♠♠♠
• The Killing Kind ♠♠♠♠
• From the Underground and Below ♠♠♠♠
• Coverkill ♠♠♠

Overkill is, without a doubt, one of my Top 10 bands of all time. Considering what I listen to, it's not surprising. In fact, it's easy to say they have to be Top 5, along with Megadeth, Devin Townsend (including SYL, Solo, etc), The Plasmatics, and Slayer. So don't look for me to harp on albums here, it's just one simple rule: BUY THEM ALL!!!!!!!

Overkill is the incredibly rare band, one that even those in my Top 5 (save Devin Townsend), that can simply release an album on a consistent basis and even their worst is better than a lot of people's best. Since 1985 and the release of "Feel the Fire", you would be hard-pressed to find an Overkill album that didn't sit well with the others. Which brings me to the Surprise of the Day, "I Hear Black". Originally released in 1993, this post-Nirvana disc saw Overkill grow and expand their sound by mixing their metal roots with heavy doses of blues and Black Sabbath. The result is actually mixed; some choice cuts, namely "Dreaming in Columbian" and "World of Hurt", do more than a lot of metal bands could at the time without losing an ounce of heaviness, an even RARER feat!

That aside, the best cuts from today?

Bastard Nation, E.vil N.ever D.ies, Elimination, Time to Kill, It Lives, Cold Hard Fact, Battle, God-Like, Blood Money (THE Most under-rated Overkill Song EVER!!!!), Thanx for Nothing, Solitude, I Hate, and about 50 more I didn't name.

Oddly enough, today wasn't great; wound up getting really angry most of the day and got a last-minute project I needed to do in 2 hours. All-in-all... you know, it was pretty good.

8-Album Mind: The Songs Kick the Same Amount of Ass

Otep - House of Secrets ♠♠♠♠
Otep - the_Ascension ♠♠♠♠♠ REVIEW
Overkill - Feel The Fire ♠♠♠
Overkill- Taking Over ♠♠♠♠
Overkill - Under the Influence ♠♠♠
Overkill - !!!Fuck You!!! And Then Some ♠♠♠

Today's (or yesterdays) albums and the rest of the week is just going to be killer, no filler, albums. I'm a big Overkill fan, so it's going to be cool to write a little bit about them here and there. Not much to write other than if you don't have any of these albums, just go out and buy them!