Overkill (band)

"Welcome to the gutter, we've been expecting you! HAHAHA!"

—Hello from the Gutter

Overkill is a Thrash Metal band from New Jersey. They rose to prominence in the early 80's due to their energetic performances and speedy punk-influenced music. They are usually described as "blue-collar" and "working man's group", for their steady schedule of releasing albums and live-tours.

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Discography:

• Overkill (1984, EP)
• Feel the Fire (1985)
• Taking Over (1987)
• Fuck You (1988, EP)
• Under the Influence (1988)
• The Years of Decay (1989)
• Horrorscope (1991)
• I Hear Black (1993)
• W.F.O. (1994)
• The Killing Kind (1996)
• From the Underground and Below (1997)
• Necroshine (1999)
• Coverkill (1999)
• Bloodletting (2000)
• Killbox 13 (2003)
• ReliXIV (2005)
• Immortalis (2007)
• Ironbound (2010)
• The Electric Age (2012)
• White Devil Armory (2014)
• The Grinding Wheel (2017)

Tropes used in Overkill (band) include:

• Absurdly Spacious Sewer: On the cover of Under the Influence, as seen above.
• Animated Music Video: Some parts of "Hello from the Gutter".
• Angst Dissonance: "Drunken Wisdom" appears to be from the perspective of someone experiencing this in real life and telling the angster where to shove it.

Why don't you get yourself a life? Just get the fuck out of here!

• Audience Participation Song: "We don't care what you say! FUCK YOU!"
• Badass Creed: "In Union We Stand" from Taking Over.
• Call Back: "Overkill III" opens with same acoustic piece which "Overkill II" ended with.
• Cover Version: They have covered "Sonic Reducer" by Dead Boys, "Fuck You" by The Subhumans (the canadian one), "Frankenstein" by Edgar Winter, "We Gotta Get Out of This Place" by Animals and "Under the Blade" by Twisted Sister.
  • Cover Album: Coverkill, natch. It features covers of Motörhead, Sex Pistols, Jethro Tull, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Kiss, Manowar, Judas Priest, Dead Boys and The Ramones.
• Epic Rocking: "The Answer", "Overkill II (The Nightmare Continues", "Fatal If Swallowed", "End of the Line", "Playing With Spider/Skullkrusher", "Who Tends the Fire", "Years of Decay", "Gasoline Dream", "Burn You Down/To Ashes".
• Executive Meddling: A positive example; When they sent one of their demos to Metal Storm it was released as an extended play.
• Fun with Acronyms: W.F.O. (Wide Fucking Open) and "The SRC" (Subterranean Resistance Cult) from Ironbound
• Greatest Hits Album: They have two: Hello from the Gutter: The Best of Overkill and Then and Now.
• Hey, It's That Voice!: The song 'Skull and Bones' features the instantly recognizable Randy Blythe.
• Instrumentals: "Frankenstein", "Ghost Dance", "R.I.P. (Undone)" and "Feeding Frenzy"
• Intercourse with You: "Fatal If Swallowed", "Head First".
• Last Chorus Slow-Down: "In Union We Stand", from Taking Over.
• Long Runner: With 16 studio albums released, they are one of thrash metal's longest recording bands.
• Lyrical Dissonance: "Hello from the Gutter" (from the third album) is an upbeat song about living in pisspoor conditions in the sewers of New York City.
• Mascot: Chaly, a horned skull with bat wings.
  • They have gotten in arguments with Avenged Sevenfold for their similar-looking Deathbat, going so far to send them shirts with Chaly and the words "Get Your Own Fucking Mascot" on them.
• Metal Scream: Blitz loves it.
• Mohs Scale of Rock and Metal Hardness: Most of their stuff is around a 7 or 8, while their occasional softer songs drop down to a 5 or 6.
• Name's the Same: There was a short-lived Thrash Metal band named Overkill from Los Angeles. They were forced to change their name to Overkill LA to avoid confusion with this band.
  • Also, due to them covering Motörhead's "Overkill" (which was where the band's name came from) on Coverkill, they now have two songs with that exact name (five if you count sequels "Overkill II" through "Overkill V"). There would be six, but the fourth one was called "E.vil N.ever D.ies" instead.
• New Sound Album: I Hear Black introduced band's Groove Metal sound for the 90's.
• Numbered Sequels: "Overkill" from from self-titled EP and Feel the Fire has currently four sequels.
  • Also, Killbox 13, ReliXIV, and Immortalis (look at the last two letters) are the 13th, 14th, and 15th releases in the band's main discography.
• Obsession Song: "Certifiable" from The Killing Kind.
• Portmantitle: Song titles "Soulitude" and "Genocya" and the albums Coverkill and ReliXIV.
• Sampling: "The Wait/New High in Lows" from W.F.O. opens with the "Here comes the pain!" quote from Carlitos Way.
• Spell My Name with an "S": Due to the way their logo is styled, some people write the band's name as "Over Kill".
• Subdued Section: "In Union We Stand"