The Years of Decay

The Years of Decay
Studio album by Overkill
Released October 13, 1989
Recorded June – July, 1989
Carriage House Studios,
Stamford, Connecticut, USA
Genre Thrash metal
Length 56:10
Label Megaforce. Atlantic
Producer Terry Date, Overkill
Overkill chronology
Under the Influence
(1988)		 The Years of Decay
(1989)		 Horrorscope
(1991)
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic [1]
Sputnikmusic

The Years of Decay is the fourth studio album by thrash metal band Overkill. It was released in 1989 on the Megaforce label, with distribution handled by Atlantic Records. The album featured one of the band's best known songs, "Elimination", which received regular airplay on MTV's Headbanger's Ball. Even had regular day time airplay on MTV.

Contents

Overview

The album was recorded with famed producer Terry Date (Pantera, Deftones, White Zombie, Soundgarden). It featured the band's cleanest production to date, mixing the raw approach of the previous album Under the Influence with the more complex song structures and epic elements found on the band's second album, 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 MTV airplay. Live support for The Years of Decay took place in part with a tour called "Dawn of the Decade" together with label mates Testament. The song Skullkrusher is strongly influenced by doom metal, and could be considered as a tribute to Black Sabbath. It is the only song on this album to feature guitars down-tuned to standard C tuning. The album is the best selling Overkill record so far, with 4 million copies worldwide.

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

Charts

Album - Billboard (North America)

Year Chart Position
1989 The Billboard 200 155

References

  1. ^ Anderson, Jason. The Years of Decay at Allmusic

External links

Overkill
Bobby "Blitz" Ellsworth · D. D. Verni · Dave Linsk · Derek Tailer · Ron Lipnicki
Rat Skates · Bobby Gustafson · Sid Falck · Rob Cannavino · Merritt Gant · Tim Mallare · Joe Comeau · Sebastian Marino
Studio albums
Live albums
Videos/DVDs
Extended plays
Compilations
Cover albums
Demo albums
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