Overkill "The Years of Decay"

The Years of Decay is the fourth studio album by thrash metal band Overkill, released on October 13, 1989 through Atlantic and Megaforce Records. This is the last Overkill album to feature guitarist Bobby Gustafson, who left the band after disagreements with bassist D. D. Verni.

Overkill spent nearly a year touring in support of The Years of Decay. In November–December 1989, the band toured with Wolfsbane and Dark Angel, and a month later they toured Europe with Mordred. They also supported Testament on their Practice What You Preach tour. Overkill embarked on a headlining North American tour for three months, which took place from March to June 1990. Supporting acts for this tour were Excel, Vio-lence and Deceased.

To date, all songs from The Years of Decay have been played live except "Nothing to Die For". According to frontman Bobby "Blitz" Ellsworth, "E.vil N.ever D.ies" is a continuation of the self-titled "Overkill" series of songs from the band's three previous albums, but was not named "Overkill IV"; this would be the last song of the series until Immortalis (2007), which features the most recent part in "Overkill V... The Brand".

Jason Anderson at AllMusic gave The Years of Decay a positive review, awarding it four stars out of five. He called it a "classic by the group's fans", and that it "is often mentioned as the pinnacle of the East Coast thrashers' recording career". The album reached No. 155 on the U.S. Billboard 200 and remained on that chart for eight weeks, making it Overkill's fourth highest-charting release to date. As of May 2000 it had sold over 67,000 copies in the U.S., according to Nielsen SoundScan.

In August 2014, Revolver magazine placed the album on its list of "14 Thrash Albums You Need to Own". It was also ranked number ten on Loudwire's top ten list of "Thrash Albums NOT Released by the Big 4".

Pantera reportedly hired Terry Date to produce Cowboys from Hell based on his production of this album as well as Bobby Gustafson's guitar tone, which had influenced Dimebag Darrell.

Track listing

All tracks written by Overkill.

1. "Time to Kill" 6:16
2. "Elimination" 4:35
3. "I Hate" 3:46
4. "Nothing to Die For" 4:22
5. "Playing with Spiders/Skullkrusher" 10:15
6. "Birth of Tension" 5:04
7. "Who Tends the Fire" 8:12
8. "The Years of Decay" 7:58
9. "E.vil N.ever D.ies" 5:49

Total length: 56:17

Trivia:
- The album peaked at #155 on the Billboard 200.
- "E.vil N.ever D.ies" is considered the fourth part of the "Overkill" song sequence though it is not titled as such.

Recording information:
Co-produced by Overkill.
Recorded and mixed at: Carriage House Studios in Stamford, CT. June/July '89.
Mastered at Masterdisk, NYC.