Even though it's one of the oldest and most respected groups in the speed-metal arena, Overkill still delivers with the commitment and intensity of a band that has everything to prove. Listening to вЂњIn VainвЂќ and вЂњKilling for a LivingвЂќ is like watching an athlete in peak condition: total exertion, blinding speed, and not a single misstep. While Metallica opted for opulence, Ironbound's вЂњBring Me the Night,вЂќ вЂњGive a Little,' and вЂњEndless WarвЂќ are extraordinarily lean and mean. Ironbound continues that tradition, but focuses on the rhythms of early thrash. Even during the '90s-a fallow period for almost every metal band from the '80s-this group of New Jersey believers continued to release material that was as tough and focused in spirit as its early work. Of course, Overkill didnвЂ™t need to return to its roots, because it had never abandoned them. In combination, both strains even each other out and produce a welcome, fresh mixture of variety and familiarity for dyed-in-the-wool Overkill fans to froth and flail over, without suffering through reminders of the ill-advised experiments of the band's lost years.Just a few years after its former rival Metallica released Death Magnetic-a much-touted вЂњreturn to thrashвЂќ-Overkill showed Metallica up with Ironbound. But fans hungering for the simpler, frill-free, slam-dancing pleasures of Overkill at their most manic need not fear there are also plenty of decapitating double kickdrum-driven onslaughts like 'Bring Me the Night,' 'Endless War,' and 'The SRC,' to be found here, that'll put them all in neck braces.

Take Blue в„ўyster Cult-referencing opener 'The Green and Black,' for example, which astonishingly breaches the eight-minute mark amid a 'Master of Puppets'-like multitude of riffs, fast and slow tempos, hard/soft dynamics, opening the door to further displays of technique and imagination like the motivational screech of a title track, the religion-damning 'The Goal Is Your Soul,' and the downright philosophical 'Killing for a Living' (where Bobby Blitz occasionally seems to be speaking in tongues). And, having obviously been inspired by recent efforts from old contemporaries like Metallica, Exodus, and Vio-Lence (via Robb Flynn's current band, Machine Head), Overkill have surprisingly gone 'epic' like never before on Ironbound chucking their three-minute standards in the trash bin so as to crank out a number of songs both longer and more elaborate, if no less frantic, than usual. Ironbound is the 15th full-length studio album by American thrash metal band Overkill, which was released on January 29, 2010. Their first release for the E1/Koch label, it joins a string of gradually resurgent new millennium predecessors (the '90s were mostly wasted with fruitless groove metal dabbling) in reasserting the band's purest thrash fundamentals - just when hundreds of younger bands were busy copying their every trick. It gives the band a chance to show off their underrated songwriting skills, as well as room for guitarists Dave Linsk and Derek Tailer to extend the riffs. Perhaps taking a page from fellow thrash vets Exodus, Ironbound finds Overkill stretching out the jams. Even during the 90sa fallow period for almost every metal. Nothing proves this more than their 16th album, Ironbound (Nuclear Blast/E1, 2010).

Add to that nearly 30 years of hard toil and trauma, ranging from your everyday bandmember turnover (and lots of it) to watching your singer suffer a minor stroke on-stage (!) for little glory and littler bank accounts, and one can totally understand why the steadfast Overkill christened their fifteenth studio album Ironbound. Just a few years after its former rival Metallica released Death Magnetic a much-touted return to thrashOverkill showed Metallica up with Ironbound.

Although during the heyday of '80s thrash, they were frequently overshadowed by more inventive, consistent, or commercial competitors (you know, little bands like Metallica, Anthrax, Slayer, etc.), New Jersey's Overkill have since outlasted, out-produced, and certainly out-moshed many former foes.

Overkill ironbound