Overkill - Under The Influence (1988)

[BlackSmith]

New Jersey based band Overkill released their third album Under The Influence in July of 1988. This is the album where I felt that Overkill began to diversify the sounds in their songs compared to their previous 2 albums which I appreciate not that I hate or dislike the other two since they're good albums too. It's very noticeable in songs such as Mad Gone World, Drunken Wisdom, and Shred. Now, most of the newer sounds ain't nothing masterpiece worthy but the vocals seem to have a little more range in this album which is a plus and helps the songs sound less the same as each other.

My final verdict for Under The Influence is 8/10.

[GoatmasterGeneral]

Cannot be objective about Overkill as I am a certified fanboi. This would be the weakest album of their first 5, but I still think it's very good as the other 4 are just unfuckwithable. I'd go about 7.5 or 8/10 as well. 

[AlSymerz]

I give it a 3.5

 

[GoatmasterGeneral]

Hahaha, see? If we all rated things the same what fun would that be? What would we have left to discuss? Personally I think it'd be totally reasonable for someone to rate Under the Influence 3.5 if they didn't like the album. Don't expect everyone around the world to be Overkill fanbois just because I am. I've been made aware that Bobby's voice is an acquired taste. I would have rated the album a bit lower myself a year ago but I revisited the album a few months ago and realized there were actually more good songs on there than I'd remembered. 

[AlSymerz]

Years Of Decay was the first Overkill album that really broke down here. Radio stations here (the few hours a week of metal we had) weren't giving Overkill that much time until about the time Years was released and even then they really didn't rate Overkill highly enough to play very often. Horrorscope got heaps of attention but by the early 90's people weren't exactly rushing back to earlier albums they were buying what was on the shelf that was new.

As much as I like the first three albums they aren't ones I go back to regularly or know well enough from memory like Years and Horroscope. However the 3.5 was a piss take.

[GoatmasterGeneral]

23 minutes ago, AlSymerz said:

Years Of Decay was the first Overkill album that really broke down here. Radio stations here (the few hours a week of metal we had) weren't giving Overkill that much time until about the time Years was released and even then they really didn't rate Overkill highly enough to play very often. Horrorscope got heaps of attention but by the early 90's people weren't exactly rushing back to earlier albums they were buying what was on the shelf that was new.

As much as I like the first three albums they aren't ones I go back to regularly or know well enough from memory like Years and Horroscope. However the 3.5 was a piss take.

Yes I'm aware, that's why I laughed. That's all us old farts do is piss takes on top of piss takes, and then you've already gone on the record as being a fan of the band. But I'm sure there are people here who really would rate it below 5 and that's fine.

I've never ever heard Overkill played on the radio, not in the 80's, not in the 90's, not ever. I don't think I could even imagine what that might've felt like. Unlike the big 4 who have some small amount of name recognition within certain segments of the broader mainstream, most Americans have never even heard of any other thrash bands and would likely be surprised to learn there are hundreds of them.

I don't think even Years of Decay ever really 'broke' up here, the general love for that album developed some years after the fact and then only among metalheads. I'd put Years well behind killers like Taking Over and Horrorscope and even quite a few of their later 2000's albums which I'm head over heels  for, but I've noticed over the years that most fans want to put Years in their top 2 or 3. Except our friend Jimmy-T of course, he's very young so he puts all the post Ironbound stuff at the top of his list.  I'd put U the I even farther back than Years, but for me Overkill is such an integral part of my DNA that I find even most of their lower tier albums to be well worth listening to. Except for Immortalis, I can't find anything redeeming there, they phoned that one in and I'd rank it dead last.

[AlSymerz]

38 minutes ago, GoatmasterGeneral said:

Yes I'm aware, that's why I laughed.

 

I didn't want the youngens to interpret it wrongly and be offended!

Our radio shows did play whatever they could but a big issue was range because not everything was available locally and buying stuff on import was for very pricey, sometimes $45 for a single album because labels like Noise and Road Runner etc didn't have local distribution deals. With wider deals came a broader range of bands to the radio, but due to the lack of radio shows it was places like gigs and parties where those albums were heard. When I was doing the radio show in about 91 we did play things like Terrorizer, Overkill and those sorts of bands that weren't getting much airplay because we owned the records and took them in, but not every wannabe DJ had the range of records we collectively had so many still played the main bands and their more known songs.

I guess when I say broke what I mean is one or two songs were played every week in the one or two hour radio slot so people did get to hear it, when they heard it they started to recognise who the band was and then start requesting it on the radio and requesting shops stock the albums. Whereas before that they were a single album under "O" in the record store that sold a few dozen metal albums with zero publicity. Horrorscope definitely got spread to a wider audience but it was Years that sowed the seeds. Fuck You t-shirts were some what popular here to despite few shops selling their albums.

I do love Overkill but I still also have to be in the right mind to listen to some of their albums. I've listened to Horroscope so much that sometimes when it comes on in the car these days I come close to reaching for the skip button. I don't remember the last time I listened to Immortalis or ReliXIV but the last three I'm sure I know word for word. And I'll be waiting at the shop at 8:30 on this Friday morning to buy the new album

[GoatmasterGeneral]

I don't have any idea where I'd find a record shop these days, not without drivng 2 hours into the city, I buy just about everything but groceries and building materials online. So I imagine I'll just hear the new Overkill sooner or later when it pops up on Youtube. I've never been one to follow release schedules and keep track of what's coming out soon, I'm happy to let it be a surprise when a band I know drops a new album. I've really gotta be in the mood for thrash with the clean vocals too so Overkill is no longer a weekly thing for me like they were years ago. I'll just have little Overkill binges where I'll do 3 or 4 of their albums in a row every few months or so. My go-tos aren't even their first 5 albums anymore just because I've heard them so many times. I'd still rank Taking Over and Horrorscope the highest, and they still get a little attention now and then but I'm more likely to reach for their early 2000's stuff when the Overkill urge strikes me, or a random 90's one or that last one WoW from a few years ago really hit the spot for me.

Being in the states, all of our mainstream (radio & tv) exposure to metal back in the day was primarily geared towards glam. I never really watched or listened to any of those late night weekend metal shows like Headbanger's Ball very often though, because they were all glam-centric pushing all these mainstream bands we didn't give a fuck about. And we were almost always out in the clubs on the weekends seeing bands we actually liked. So for all I know Overkill could have made a video or two that received some play on some of those stupid late night shows and I wouldn't know it. Dee Snider actually still has a radio show today they broadcast here on the weekends maybe 10pm Saturday or something like that called House of Hair, I've heard it in the car a couple of times when I found myself out and about at that time of night for some reason. It's just a bunch of shitty old glam rock, there's no metal happening there. People have told me there were college radio shows that played some metal back in the day too but again I wasn't often home listening to the radio on weekend nights. We were usually out in the clubs, but when I did occasionally find myself at home on a Friday or Saturday night in the 80's I'd be hanging out with my gf trying to get some nookie not listening to hair bands on the radio. And I can tell you we learned about a lot more good bands out in the clubs seeing bands play live and talkinbg to metalheads than we ever could have sitting at home listening to Bon Jovi, Warrant and Poison on the radio or on MTV.

[AlSymerz]

Our 'record' shop is only about 30 minutes away but it's really less records and more about selling anything that comes in a box  and pretty much sells itself like TVs, computers, microwave ovens, fridges etc. There is only 4 rows of music in the place these days.

I remember seeing the Headbangers Ball logo on the screen for quite a few thrash videos, but as to how much they actually played compared to glam metal I don't know. There's another logo I can't remember right now which is on a few of YT videos which were originally played on 80/90's US TV. I still have no idea how often that stuff was actually played, but it still made us here jealous because we had all of about 8 hours of metal on TV every two months.