Overkill - The Wings of War (2019)

It would easy for me to just end this review right here and state that "The Wings of War" is an Overkill record. Bada bing, bada boom, and we would be home by noon. It would be a disservice though to not acknowledge these white Jersey boys and their relentless thrash metal attack that is now onto its 19th full length album. To do this for so long and keep a consistent level of quality is just astounding, and you guessed it, they did not falter this time either.

The band fires off the cannons instantly, as they always do, with the hard hitting "Last Man Standing", which is just classic "Ironbound"-era Overkill material. The speed is fast, the riffs are great, the chorus is catchy, and all the heads are banging. It is a familiar start that just gets you going, and the tempo is not exactly slowing down with "Believe In The Fight", who has this groovy rhythm that almost makes you giddy. Great metal should always make you smile.

While the intensity is not as overwhelming for the rest of the album, there is still a lot of fun songs in here that makes the album go by pretty fast. For instance, we have a song that is named "Batshitcrazy", and it is certainly insane with its gibberish of a chorus, but there is something primitive about this track that just makes it addicting. Also, it is about time the band had a song with this title. "A Mother's Prayer" is also really fun, but more because of the speedy tempo than straight up weirdness.

Then we have "Welcome To The Garden State", which could be seen as a tribute by the band aimed towards two of their favourite things. Punk rock, and the city of New Jersey. Now, I am not much for punk, but this still has enough thrash in it so I can enjoy it relatively easy, and it is a great homage to Jersey, having small Easter eggs here and there, and also outing the fantastic line "I've been everywhere, but it's never like home". Listening to that song also makes you understand how much these guys enjoy themselves during this whole process in making an album, they are just out there having a ton of fun.

One thing I think "The Wings of War" certainly improved upon against its predecessor "The Grinding Wheel" is to tighten things up. Sure, the band still has some longer songs that some people might think is too much, but I do not mind it as much, especially since there is very little fat in here to work out. It might be a little soft in some songs like "Distortion" and "Where Few Dare To Walk", but they do not take away all too much.

So comparing "The Wings of War" to the rest of the recent Overkill outings, I would put this album neatly in the middle. It does not have the slamming power that both "Ironbound" and "The Electric Age" have, but at least it has enough juice to get past "White Devil Armory" and "The Grinding Wheel". At the end of the day though, I go back to what I said in the beginning of this review, this is an Overkill record, and you are gonna enjoy this one if you have the slightest of interest in the thrash metal genre.

Songs worthy of recognition: Last Man Standing, Batshitcrazy, A Mother's Prayer, Welcome To The Garden State

Rating: 8/10 Holes In My Soul

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More reviews of Overkill:
White Devil Armory
The Grinding Wheel