From the Underground and Below is one of Overkill's best albums, and one of my nominations for best album of 1997. The band, at least for me personally, has had its ups and downs in terms of music over the past few albums, but this is definitely an up. Every song in this album is powerful, aggressive, raw, and full of energy. The production is rich with crunchy guitars with great tone, and the performance is incredibly tight. The vocals are out shadowed by the instrumental performance, as riff after riff assaults the listener. The remarkable consistency of this album is what makes it such a great listen. A few more guitar solos could've pushed the quality of the album up a couple of notches, but I'm not complaining! It is rare in the 90s when a band manages to release an album that overshadows their previous one, but it's definitely the case with Overkill's newest. Don't miss this if you're a metal fan.
Thundering, aggressive, riff-intensive, melodic metal is how I'd go about describing Overkill's latest release, with a crisp production that does the in-your-face music great justice. Consistency has always been an Overkill hallmark, and this album doesn't disappoint in that regard. The band manage to produce a great fresh metal sound while blending in a slight amount of noise (done using guitars and drums though). Unlike From the Underground and Below, the vocals complement the guitar work and the syncopated style of the music very welll. The lyrics are thought-provoking and, taken together with the music, illustrate how Overkill have grown over the years as songwriters and musicians without really selling out. The energy on this album is incredible considering that this is the band's tenth release. This is definitely not an album that you relax to.