Witness OVERKILL’s 18th album of blistering yet precise and thought-provoking thrash magic, »The Grinding Wheel«, a record on which thrash’s ultimate team of five machined parts shows up and executes to perfection... with a little punk thrown in for bad measure.

But a life dedicated to metal can be a grind, hence the title of this sparks-a-flyin’ record. “It just makes sense for us,” reflects D.D. “If you’ve been making metal for almost 40 years like we have, it can be a grind. But we also liked the old school metal idea of referencing ‘Grinder’, the JUDAS PRIEST song, which suits the album because it has classic metal parts on it as well as the thrash parts. There’s a blue collar feel to that title too, and that’s how we approach OVERKILL. The guitar case is basically a lunchbox and we go to work.”

“One of the principles - if not characteristics - of the band is that it’s been grinding through for long, long periods of time,” seconds Blitz. “Decades to this point. And not necessarily with huge gains with regards to popularity, but for sure, with huge gains in as much as we can earn a living while doing the kind of music that we want. And so the idea of grinding it out over the decades became a device for writing the album, whether it would be riffs or lyrics.”

Despite, as D.D. says, the album’s classic metal references (such as BLACK SABBATH in 'Come Heavy' and IRON MAIDEN in 'The Long Road' and the epic and cinematic title track), when the band gets up a full head of thrash steam, they bring to the party a trademark punk aesthetic, forged from trips on the train to CBGB and Max’s Kansas City to witness original punk legends such as THE DAMNED and THE DEAD BOYS.