The Years of Decay

This is the Overkill album that cannot be measured by speed alone, and the one most often named as their best. It was recorded over June and July 1989 at the Carriage House in Stamford, Connecticut, produced by Terry Date, who would go on to make Horrorscope with them, and Atlantic released it on 13 October that year. "Time to Kill" and "Elimination" are as fast as anything before them, but the ten-minute "Playing With Spiders / Skullkrusher" and the title track stay in slow places long enough to build weight. The sound itself sits lower and thicker than on the earlier records, and Terry Date's hand is plain in it. It is also the last album with guitarist Bobby Gustafson, who left after a falling-out with the founders Ellsworth and Verni. The running order here is the original's as printed.