I remember walking into a record store in 1989 and seeing a t-shirt with the name “Overkill” on it. At the time, I wasn’t into metal, so I looked at it oddly and moved along. Years later I wish I would have bought that t-shirt learning to love the thrash metal they generated since 1980. And as those years passed, I never had the opportunity to see them live. Until March 10, 2020, when the band invaded the House of Blues Orlando on their Wings Over the U.S.A. Tour. There was no way I was missing this opportunity. I’m glad I didn’t as it was a performance of a lifetime.
Opening up first that night was the band Hydraform. The progressive rock band out of Denver, CO got engaged with the crowd fairly quickly. The band consisting of Carter Pashko (vocals), Jay Streifer (guitar), John Jarvinen (bass), and Matt Gotlin-Sheehan (drums) delivered this interesting blended mix of aggressive and grooving stage presence. While Carter was using his guttural voice to belt out lyrics, John would be delivering a bass line that jived like rhythm and blues. Jay has excellent technical work on stage and Matt got hard and heavy on the drums. I was really impressed with John‘s picking technique on the bass as his style is not something you see frequently as he played high up the neck. The crowd enjoyed their performance cheering and applauding when they finished their set.
Next up was Exhorder the metal band out of New Orleans, LA. Originally founded in 1985 the band worked hard to get their first album Slaughter in the Vatican released in 1990 and then their follow-up The Law in 1992. But, ended up disbanding in 1994. In 2008, Exhorder came back on the scene and started writing new music. The band played a number of shows until they went on hiatus again in 2011. They came back in 2017 and signed with Nuclear Blast in 2018. By 2019 the band released their third album Mourn The Southern Skies. Right before starting this tour, their founding guitarist Vinnie LaBella parted ways with the band. Exhorder remains as Kyle Thomas (vocals), Marzi Montazeri (guitar), Jason Viebrooks (bass), and Sasha Horn (drums).
Exhorder hit the crowd hard and heavy as soon as they hit the stage. Kyle was extremely amped up on stage urging the crowd to get crazy. Exhorder kicked it off with “My Time” from Mourn The Southern Skies playing hard and fast getting the crowd truly moving. Kyle was an animal on stage banging his head, singing hard, and looked thrilled performing for the audience. They followed up with “Unforgiven” and “Slaughter In The Vatican” giving the crowd some old school music as well. Though it was a very short set, Exhorder entertained the crowd very well providing them with some old school fashion metal. You can find their music and merchandise HERE. Their setlist that night was:
- My Time
- Unforgiven
- Slaughter In The Vatican
- (Cadence of) The Dirge
- Legions of Death
- Hallowed Sound
- Desecrator
Finally our headliners Overkill were ready to take the stage. The band from New Jersey formed back in the 1980s during the time of other famous metal and thrash bands made their rise to fame. Working hard through local clubs and bars the band was able to release a demo titled Power in Black the band was able to release a separate self-titled EP. That EP led them to being signed with Megaforce Records and in 1985 released their first full-length album Feel The Fire. That led to the band releasing their second album Taking Over in 1987 which hit the Billboard 200 peaking at #191. The band’s success only took off from there continuing to hit the Billboard charts. The band released a total of 19 studio albums, 1 cover album, 3 EPs, and 3 live albums during their career. Their most recent album The Wings of War was released on February 22, 2019. Not only did it hit the Billboard 200 chart, peaking at #158, the album also made it onto the Billboard Independent Album chart peaking at #3 and the Billboard Top Hard Rock Albums chart peaking at #9. Overkill is Bobby “Blitz” Ellsworth (vocals), D.D. Verni (bass), Dave Linsk (lead guitar), Derek Tailer (rhythm guitar), and Jason Bittner (drums).
As we waited in the photo pit for the band to come on I had pondered what song they would open with (not looking at prior setlists from other shows). I hoped for one single and my hopes came true once the lights dropped. That infamous thumping for the opening of “Last Man Standing” from The Wings of War rang through the speakers and then Overkill hit the stage to deliver it so perfectly. Bobby’s vocals live are just as good, if not better, than they sounded on the album and musically they were tearing it up. They followed up with “Electric Rattlesnake” from their 2017 album The Electric Age. It was all so good and we were just getting rolling.
On stage Overkill is so animated, smiling and laughing at each other, getting into the music, and engaging the fans. Derek was having a blast throwing his guitar picks to the fans up in the balcony and out on the floor in front of him. What I didn’t expect was to have him gesture one towards me as I was taking a photo and then whip his arm back and bean me with it right in the chest! I laughed, Derek laughed, and he continued on having fun with the photographers while we were still in the pit. Fortunately, my friend Bryan found the pick and gave it to me. While Dave kept it cool and collected while he played, D.D. was super intense on stage strumming out bass riffs while headbanging away. Jason hid behind the drums for most of the show on the riser, but when we could see him, he was head down ripping out drumbeats like a rapid-fire machinegun. Bobby worked his vocal magic all over the stage and sometimes leaving the band to rip out some great instrumentals.
Their selection of music that night was fantastic picking out a great selection of songs. Some of my personal favorites from that night included “Hello From the Gutter” from the 1988 album Under the Influence, “Head of a Pin” also from The Wings of War, “Necroshine” the title track from their 1999 album, and “Mean, Green, Killing Machine” from their 2017 album The Grinding Wheel. It was a 12 song setlist before they left the stage waiting for the crowd to chant “OVERKILL! OVERKILL! OVERKILL!” and then come back to the stage. It was a great 5 song encore including a fantastic performance of “Fuck You” a cover of the song by The Subhumans off their Fuck You EP. Bobby had the whole crowd singing along and giving their middle fingers in the air singing “Fuck you!”. They also played “Welcome to the Garden State” from The Wings of War paying homage to their home state of New Jersey. They finished up with another short version of “Fuck You” thanking the crowd for a great night before leaving the stage. You can find Overkill music and merchandise at their website HERE. Their setlist that night was:
- Last Man Standing
- Electric Rattlesnake
- Hello From the Gutter
- Elimination
- Bring Me the Night
- Head of a Pin
- Necroshine
- Under One
- Bastard Nation
- Mean, Green, Killing Machine
- Feel the Fire
- Ironbound
Encore:
- Coma
- Rotten to the Core
- Fuck You (The Subhumans cover)
- Welcome to the Garden State
- Fuck You (The Subhumans cover) (Reprise)
This was such an amazing show and worth the wait after all these years. Overkill not only puts on a spectacular live performance, they have a great catalog of music that is worth listening to over and over again. Don’t miss out the next time Overkill comes to your city!
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