After releasing perhaps the finest, most musical recording of the band's already considerable
thrash metal
career in 1991,
Overkill
followed up
Horrorscope
in 1993 with
I Hear Black
, a slightly more dense, ambitious recording, and the band's first for
Atlantic Records
. There had been a few lineup changes over the first years of their recording career and the only original members to appear on
are vocalist
Bobby "Blitz" Ellsworth
and bassist
D.D. Verni
.
Ellsworth
and
Verni
are joined by relative newcomers
Rov Cannavino
Merrit Gant
on guitars and
Tim Mallare
on drums. Initially,
was met with a somewhat cool response by the group's
thrash
fan base but, over time,
metal
fans of all varieties have come to appreciate the slower, more dynamic grind that at first confused fans expecting exclusively lightning-fast riffs from the group. The opening
"Dreaming in Columbian,"
the title track, and
"Weight of the World"
are all mid-tempo
highlights featuring some decent work by
especially, as the singer continues his '90s trend by focusing slightly more on melody, going over the top only where necessary. While not an important release for its genre or even for the band,
's
is still a respectable post-
offering. ~ Vincent Jeffries