Feel the Fire

The first album by Overkill of New Jersey. It was recorded at Pyramid in Ithaca, New York, produced by Carl Canedy, and released by Megaforce Records in 1985 as the 12-inch MRI 1469. The line-up is the founding four: Bobby "Blitz" Ellsworth on vocals, Bobby Gustafson on guitar, D.D. Verni on bass and Rat Skates on drums. Ellsworth's high voice does not sound like the West Coast bands of the same years, or like Anthrax from the same part of the country. The riffing of "Rotten to the Core", "Hammerhead" and "Overkill" is fast, but the choruses are built closer to traditional heavy metal, and that combination is the outline of what came to be called East Coast thrash. Megaforce was the label that issued Metallica's first album, and this comes from a time when American speed metal was still a small circle. The running order here is the original's as printed.