RESURRECTIONS
Unearthing the latest metal reissues
OVERKILL’S SIX-ALBUM COLLECTION, The Atlantic Years 1986-1994, [8] offers a crash course in the band’s stylistic adventures. 1987’s Taking Over feels like the missing link crossover between NWOBHM and thrash – albeit about four years too late. But by Under The Influence and the Terry Date-produced The Years Of Decay,
the band had given themselves to the goofy glory – and groove – of East Coast thrash (inspiring a glam-weary Pantera to seek out Terry and reinvent themselves in the process). Horrorscope remains the band’s most vibrant and vital (classic) release, its thundering assault crystallising everything brilliant about Overkill. By comparison, I Hear Black and W.F.O. feel uneven, though Overkill’s continued commitment to stylistic experimentation ensures they remain interesting listening, if somewhat inessential.
The 90s threw plenty of heavy metal bands into an identity crisis. Just look at TROUBLE. The recently unveiled One For The Road/unplugged (Hammerheart) [7]
captures their strange transition from doom metal progenitors to an Alice In Chains knockoff. Bizarrely, they make it work – to an extent. A snapshot of the point shortly before vocalist Eric Wagner left and later briefly rejoined, there is an emotional nous to the material that hints towards the band’s prodigious legacy. It’s still hard to take any ‘definitive’ collection of MOTÖRHEAD
songs that doesn’t include live renditions seriously, but Everything Louder Forever (BMG) [8] at least remembers the band carried on after 1986, meaning we don’t miss out on choice cuts like I Ain’t No Nice Guy.
Speaking of overlooked latter-day line-ups, it’s good to finally see SEPULTURA’S first decade with Derrick Green held up for scrutiny in new boxset Sepulnation: The Studio Albums 1998-2009 (BMG) [7]. The comparatively forgettable Roorback aside, the output is remarkably well-rounded. Against and Nation bring forth a hardcore punk snarl, while Dante XXI and A-lex introduced conceptual ambitions that have served the band so well this past decade – plus, Choke, Convicted In Life and False
are among the finest Seps cuts you’ll find.