The Metal Files

Overkill’s Feel The Fire came out in 1985 and I first put ears to it in 86 via a schoolmate of mine. My junior and senior years at a Catholic high school were tolerable because I finally had another metalhead to commiserate with. He turned me on to a lot of metal that I hadn’t had a chance to hear yet. Thanks Bill, forever grateful.

Anyway, back to this album. He loaned this and Savatage’s Dungeons Are Calling to me for a weekend and took them over to Kelz’ house to check them out. Now if you have been paying attention, Kelz’ mom and my mom thought that heavy metal was evil. OK, they were on to something in a way but evil music didn’t make us bad kids. We were just kids who liked to rock out with our big white hi-top sneakers with the pant leg of our acid washed jeans tucked in behind the tongue. We weren’t out to harm anyone or ourselves, but I guess parents have a different perspective. Our dads were pretty cool about the whole thing but generally went along with what our moms said just so they wouldn’t have to hear any excessive bitching. I remember my dad once saying, “Son, listen to what your mom says then go do what you want. Just don’t do anything stupid and you’ll be fine.” Sonofabitch, pops was right again. He was awesome. RIP, man. You were the coolest.

OK, so, back to this album. Kelz’ record player was in his attic so we went up and put the Overkill on first. Remember, we were zit faced 16 year olds. I snuck the 2 records in under my arm wrapped in a flannel shirt. I’m sure his mom knew I had records but she wasn’t overly nosey that day.

We put the needle on and heard the creepy intro. It was pretty wild. We had never heard Overkill and the opening track kicks in with a wicked evil laugh from Bobby “Blitz” Ellsworth. Were a little freaked out but the whole thing just crushed. We were also tripping out on the backwards masking at the end of the album. A year or 2 later we figured out that it said, “There’s no message here; you’re gonna screw up your needle, asshole.”

We spun the record once again. Completely badass…and evil. Perfection. Gustafson’s riffs, rat Skates’ frantic drumming and DD’s clanky Rickenbacker bass tone made for a perfect background for Blitz’ vocals.

There’s not a stinker on here and I will forever recommend it to any metalhead…although if you were a true metalhead, you’d already own it. Right? Right!

By the way, I don’t think we ever spun the Savatage, which is a good record in its own right, but it’s no Feel The Fire.