Home › Multilingual Archive Index › The Years of Decay

The Years of Decay

The Years of Decay is an album by the thrash metal band Overkill, released in 1989 (see 1989 in music) under the label Megaforce (but was distributed by Atlantic Records). Considered Overkill's breakthrough album, The Years of Decay featured one of the bands best known songs "Elimination", which had a popular music video. Many fans and critics consider this to be one of their best albums.

Overview

Recorded with famed producer Terry Date (Pantera, White Zombie, Soundgarden), The Years of Decay featured the bands cleanest production, mixing the raw approach of Under The Influence with more complex song structures and epic elements found on Taking Over. The album also featured a more serious atmosphere and longer songs, including the eight minute title track and the ten minute "Playing With Spiders/Skullkrusher." The uptempo thrasher "Elimination" was released as a single, and the music video received regular airplay on MTV's Headbangers Ball. The song became a fan favorite, and would be played live at every show, even 15 years later. Live support for The Years of Decay took place in part with a tour called "Dawn Of The Decade" together with label mates Testament.

Track listing

1. "Time to Kill" – 6:16
2. "Elimination" – 4:34
3. "I Hate" – 3:48
4. "Nothing to Die For" – 4:22
5. "Playing With Spiders/Skullkrusher" – 10:09
6. "Birth of Tension" – 5:02
7. "Who Tends the Fire" – 8:09
8. "The Years of Decay" – 8:01
9. "E.vil N.ever D.ies" – 5:49

All songs written by Verni, Ellsworth, and Gustafson

Personnel

• Bobby "Blitz" Ellsworth – Vocals
• Bobby Gustafson – Guitar
• D.D. Verni – Bass
• Sid Falck – Drums

• Recorded and mixed June – July, 1989 at Carriage House Studios, Stamford, Connecticut, USA
• Produced by Terry Date and Overkill
• Engineered by Terry Date
• Assistant engineered by Matt Lane
• Mastered by Howie Weinberg at Masterdisk, New York City, USA
• Front cover illustration by Steve Fastener and Rich Larson
• Photography by Michael Paras
• Executive produced by Jon and Marsha Zazula

Charts

Album - Billboard (North America)

Trivia

The opening riff of "Elimination" bears a striking resemblance to the opening riff of Kreator's "Love Us Or Hate Us" from their album, Extreme Aggression, released in the same year. The Roman numerals on the album cover (MCMLXXXIX) read as "1989".

External links

• Official OVERKILL Site