Band:	Overkill
Album:	The Years Of Decay
Style:	Thrash metal
Release date:	October 13, 1989
Guest review by:	Mattybu

01. Time To Kill
02. Elimination
03. I Hate
04. Nothing To Die For
05. Playing With Spiders / Skullkrusher
06. Birth Of Tension
07. Who Tends The Fire
08. The Years Of Decay
09. E.vil N.ever D.ies

If there's one thing "fans" of thrash metal like to do, it would be complaining about the big 4. In some of the less intellectual corners of the internet, people like to make their own version, usually kicking out one of the "sellouts". Overkill is one of those names you see time and time again as an alternative, a band who many people feel never got the credit they deserve. The Years Of Decay is seen by many as their best and a classic... But is it really?

It's apparent enough why people like Overkill so much, they're a band dripping with the thrash attitude with a great energetic frontman, Bobby Blitz. On The Years Of Decay, you'll get to hear the iconic voice of Bobby Blitz spitting his venom, you'll hear riffs, you'll hear some speed, some aggression... But for me, it really isn't worthy of "classic" status.

Don't get me wrong, it's not a bad album. However, it really seemed like Overkill was trying to take a page out of the Master Of Puppets book of songwriting, and at times failed. The longer songs, especially "Who Tends The Fire" can seem like an absolute chore to get through at times, and do a pretty good job of killing the momentum of the album. There really wasn't enough variation in them or, simply put, any reason for the three 8-minute plus tracks to be as long as they are. Some of the songs like "Eliminate" and the closing track work well though, because while they don't change too much, they aren't extremely long and the basic riffs they are built on are strong.

In storage locker buying terms, this album is missing the "wow factor". Overall, it really didn't leave much of an impact on me, and in a genre which at the time had given us slabs of all out mayhem from bands like Sadus and Dark Angel, this album is low on the mayhem scale, and certainly below the quality of songwriting standards set by albums like Ride The Lightning or Among The Living. It isn't a bad album, and fans will continue to go on enjoying it for years to come, but The Years Of Decay was somewhat of a failure in regards to the long songs, and altogether lacking any real moments or distinctly impressive qualities that make it much more than just another thrash album.