It´s pretty amazing how thrash has bounced back from nothing. After being seemingly withered end dead for decades, the scene was revived by countless acts trying to live up to their idols. Some succeded more than others for a short period of time, fewer will be remembered for their effort. Then, titan after titan enters with one solid album after another. Overkill, Megadeth, Heathen, Sacrifice, Artillery, At War, the old bands rose from the ashes of bullshit grunge, groove and horrendously performed experimental pop/rock, hell, some even reunited to teach the young. What did we learn? Thrash is very much alive and kicking ass.

If Ironbound was an instant thrash metal classic and the best thing Overkill ever released, then what the hell is this? Yeah, The Electric Age is that good. To be honest, I don´t really know where to start. The pure genius that dwells within these absolute metal masterminds is impossible to describe. They´re supposed to be washed up old men, still riding the wave of their glory days (I´m looking at you Metallica), instead they wrestled the torch from whoever held it, and carries on in the same stomping, vicious, violent fashion, lighting the path for mere mortals with blazing hellfire.

The rattling intro of Come and Get It is just what you´d expect. Good old Overkill´s way of saying «Welcome to The Electric Age, are you ready to get your pancreas demolished?». We sure as hell are. Enter crushing sound, speed-laden riffs, and Blitz´ trademark, nasty snarls. The short, violent breakdowns will snap your neck, just like last time.

Electric Rattlesnake, is probably where you´ll discover that Overkill challenge themselves a bit, something they deliberately do throughout the entire album. They´ll slow things down to a churn, slowly twisting your head off in an almost doomy fashion, just to speed things up again in a heartbeat. Some songs keeps a slower pace all the way like Black Daze, making your head bang less frenetic yet still with an intense, unhealthy force. The guitars become incredibly dominant when they slow things down, which maintains an enormous power coupled with massive rhythm work without ever drowning Blitz´ evil vocals.

Even if the variation is executed perfectly, it´s the fast, deadly, edgy and razor-sharp Overkill we all know and love. Save Yourself, Drop the Hammer Down, and All Over but the Shouting provides much and more of ramming speed driven at you by blazing drums. And the riffs, oh God the riffs. Old Wounds, New Scars will tear you apart, hammering away at your kneecaps, blow after blow after blow. Furious as ever they rage on, double bass drums pounding skulls, sharp, heavy guitars ripping souls, vocals preaching death and destruction.

I just can´t seem to wrap my head around how awesome this is. I know I didn´t describe alot of the music in this review, aside from the bloody beating you´ll take. Then again, that is what thrash metal is all about. Heavy, crushing, fast, battering, ass-kicking metal that will leave you bruised in a ditch. Even if there are some insignificant downsides that I´m sure insignificant people will point out, get this now. You won´t regret it.