The artist: Overkill are a big name in thrash metal and even heavy metal in general. These guys have been around as long as Metallica have but have been more popular underground. No matter what situation they were in, Bobby "Blitz" Ellsworth and the other bandmates carried on their career. Their persistence has been rewarded with the success of their latest album Ironbound where they were kicking ass more than ever. Don't believe that statement? Then listen to The Green and Black and The Head and Heart and give the album a second thought.
The album: The Years of Decay is one of the classic Overkill albums from the 80s. This was the album where Overkill developed a more mature sound as well as exploring into longer tracks for the band. The Years of Decay holds the longest Overkill song ever with Playing With Spiders/Skullkrusher clocking in at 10:15. Not only that, the song experiments with doom metal elements which is rather odd for a thrash metal band to do but it works nonetheless. Even with their musical adventures for The Years of Decay, Overkill still provide straightforward thrash metal tracks such as Elimination, I Hate and Time to Kill to make the fans at the time to feel right at home.
The song: E.Vil N.Ever D.Ies is the closer to the Overkill saga which they started on their first album Feel the Fire. The song has a rather creepy intro but is then struck by the mid-pace bass and guitar riff and then comes the metal thrashing mad which is what should be expected from thrash metal. Other bands may go for a slow or epic number for their last song but when it comes to thrash metal, you've got to end it off with a thrash frenzy. Another great example of this is Metallica's Damage, Inc. This isn't all fast, though as the bridge slows down the pace and D.D. Verni shows off his great bass performance. Not only that, the guitar riff is also menacing and that's the one word you can describe the entire Overkill saga. The next part of the song gradually gets faster, thus going back to the fast and aggressive thrash closure containing plenty of shredding on the guitar. The song ends with "Evil. Never. DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIES!" Overall, this is a fine thrash metal closure and this is the sort of song you should have in mind when writing a thrash metal album. Aggression, speed, shredding and menacing bass lines, what more could you ask for in thrash metal?
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