With great excitement a mate and I hit the road for my fourth Overkill gig since first seeing them back in 1990 on the Years of Decay tour. Known for their high-octane stage shows, they never disappoint. First up though are the supports and it’s due to the usual travel related issues that we unfortunately miss the rather Power Metal sounding Savage Messiah, who I’m not familiar with, and the German band Cripper whom I have seen rock the Metalcamp stage in years gone by. The latter are a very powerful, beautiful-female fronted Thrash/Death Metal style band with grooves a plenty. Gutted! So onto Suicidal Angels who plow a kind of early Sepultura meets Krisiun trough with, we decide, riffs stolen from Dark Angel, Sinister and Destruction amongst others. Basically they dark-thrash like hell and are pretty impressive if rather workmanlike. The ‘Angels guitar slinging frontman comes on like he’s fronting Metallica, constantly exhorting the crowd to punch the air and chant, which was a little overbearing, though to his credit it eventually worked as a few young thrashers started going off. It must be the strong Greek character, as he approached my travel buddy Mic (from Desecration) after the set and said ‘I know you! And you know me!’. Took Mic a few bemused minutes to remember they’d got up to some drunken Metal adventure at their gig in Athens once!
After a while, a few chats with old faces and a couple of ciders, the stage started rumbling. Having been downgraded from the Wulfrun Hall to the smallest of the great Wulfrun venues, due to lack of tickets sold, the hall was disappointingly smaller but full nevertheless, and anticipation very high. Coming on stage to the strains of The Green and Black, from latest album and seriously awesome return to form, Ironbound, there was no doubt Overkill meant business. Immediately the moshpit went off, and though restricted by a third due to space taken by an unfortunate paralyzed fan on a stretcher, the pit did not let up. Overkill charged through all the classics with yours truly’s shit eating grin only matched by those around me, rolled out in quick time we had Hello From The Gutter, Wrecking Crew, Rotten To The Core, In Union We Stand and Feel The Fire. Of the two ‘new guy’ guitarists, both having been in the band for 10 years, Dave Linsk seemed to having the bigger ball, smiling throughout, Derek Tailer finally breaking a satisfied smile later on. DD Verni was his usual serious but solid self, crunching through every bassline like only a Metal pro of his stature can and Bobby Blitz the quintessential frontman nailing every song and compeering hilariously and righteously between tracks. This is how it should be done. Having bludgeoned the increasingly riotous audience and having thrown myself into the melee for main set finisher Elimination, Overkill left the stage to much chanting and footstomping. Returning after a short break Overkill played a more varied set ending with a few, to me, lesser known tracks; Necroshine, Old School, then the now de rigeur Fuck You and the Dead Boys cover Sonic Reducer, before leaving the stage a job well done and a crowd covered in sweat and beer! While I’d argue that the end of the set seemed a little less sturdy due to covers and lesser known, punkier tracks, Overkill still played a nearly 2 hour set, 110% and everyone left satisfied and exhausted. Besides, arguing with Blitz would be ill advised, as he only half jokingly remarked to a dumbass water thrower, though just as well might have aimed at any detractors of other such vintage thrash masters… ‘I may be old, but I’ll still knock you down!’. No doubt!!
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