Review by Daniel for Overkill (US-NJ) - I Hear Black (1993)
As an old thrasher from way back, I’d suggest that my relationship with New Jersey second tier stalwarts Overkill might surprise a few people. You see, despite finding most of their material to be pretty enjoyable, it’s very rare that I find any of their releases to be anything like essential with only their very solid 1991 fifth album “Horrorscope” ticking all of the required boxes. Their other widely claimed classics like “Feel The Fire”, “Taking Over” & “The Years of Decay” simply don’t get me going as much as they do the rest of the extreme metal community for one reason or another yet I’ve still religiously kept up to date with each successive release since first discovering their “The Years Of Decay” album back in 1989. In fact, my enthusiasm for Overkill was probably at its highest point leading up to the release of their 1993 sixth full-length “I Hear Black” given that it came off the back of what was comfortably my favourite Overkill record to this day in “Horrorscope”.
My younger brother Ben would end up picking “I Hear Black” up on CD at the time which suited me just fine as it enabled me to continue focusing on my unquenchable thirst for death/black metal. That arrangement would only become more favourable for me after I heard “I Hear Black” for the first time too as their brand new opus showcased a very different Overkill to the one I was expecting &, upon first impressions at least, it wasn’t for the better. Unfortunately, Overkill seemed to have succumbed to the dreadful virus that was going around at the time: influ-Pantera (I know… I couldn’t come up with anything better at short notice). As with many other prominent thrash bands of the early 1990’s, Overkill had opted to follow the current trend towards Pantera’s groove metal sound in the hope of receiving a similar level of riotous attention. It didn’t work for them however & “I Hear Black” would be regarded by most as a creative flop but is it as bad as I (& the vast majority of the metal community) thought it was at the time? Well, if the last couple of days have taught me anything it’s that sometimes music needs a second chance because “I Hear Black” isn’t half bad.
As with all Overkill records, “I Hear Black” is a reasonably well produced album with strong performances, particularly from front man Bobby “Blitz” Ellsworth & the twin guitar attack of Merritt Gant & Rob Cannavino who pretty much do enough to carry the album thanks to some high quality vocals & some equally strong guitar solos. The appeal of the rest of the album’s components really does come down to how open you are to hearing Overkill playing groove metal though &, at the time of release, I don’t think I was ready for it. Now though, I can appreciate the song-writing a lot better given that I know what I’m in for & haven’t touched on Overkill for a while. Don’t get me wrong, it’s never gonna be a memorable, vital metal record, even for the groove metal crowd, but it is worth listening to & doesn’t deserve the flack it cops from some stubborn thrashers out there.
The major drawback with “I Hear Black” is its inconsistency with four of the eleven songs doing very little for me. These songs generally match up with the more groovy material with my least favoured inclusion “Spiritual Void” even sounding like stoner metal at times. That still means that the decent tracks outweigh the duds though which is a clear sign that the album has been a touch underrated, at least in my household. That’s not to say that there are any classic tracks here though with my three favourite songs heavy/thrash number “World of Hurt”, grunge piece “Shades of Grey” & the atmospheric interlude “Ghost Dance” all being more solid than they are unforgettable but the rest of the material is still decent enough to leave me with positive experiences overall.
Look, I’m not gonna deny that “I Hear Black” was the weakest Overkill album to the time because I believe that it was but not by anywhere near as much as people seem to think. In fact, I’d comfortably take it over the 1984 self-titled or 1987 “!!!Fuck You!!!” E.P.’s these days if I'm being honest. If you categorically hate groove metal then you may have a dealbreaker on your hands but I think the genre has its moments & have been very pleasantly surprised to find that “I Hear Black” has a lot more to offer than I gave it credit for over the years.
For fans of Pantera, 90’s Anthrax & latter-day Annihilator.