Horrorscope
After original guitarist Bobby Gustafson left, Overkill hired two guitarists to take his place on 1991’s *Horrorscope*. That the group had to hire four hands to replace Gustafson’s two says a lot about him, but new guitarists Rob Cannavino and Merritt Gant gave the fresh material serious thickness. The band’s tight-knit rhythms reach a fulminating peak on “Frankenstein” and “Thanx for Nothin’,” which have to rank as two of the funkiest thrash songs ever recorded. Where Overkill was once a scrappy New Jersey upstart, here the band sounds stadium-ready. “Blood Money,” “Bare Bones,\" and “Nice Day…For a Funeral” have a huge presence, reflecting the transformation of metal from a small subculture of loyal diehards to an enormous global army. Even though *Horrorscope* boasts Overkill’s biggest and baddest rock songs, it also shows the group’s versatility. Whether it’s the strangely dissonant guitar sounds on “Coma” or the slow-grinding, industrial groove of “Horrorscope,” Overkill proves its devotion to finding new ways to experiment with the thrash template.