Overkill – Live In Overhausen (Nuclear Blast)

I have a list of about 10 bands that I’d love to witness in the live arena. Some of them, sadly, I never will, but with Overkill-still going strong after nearly 4 decades, I’m still in with a chance. If I never get the privilege, well then I’ll have this little beauty to fall back on. Live in Overhausen captures the often overlooked, thrash legends at their incendiary best. As bands seem to do these days the boys play two albums from their classic back catalogue in their entirety. The albums in question are their 1985 debut Feel The Fire and 1991’s Horrorscope. Fine choices indeed, but I would have preferred to have heard their late 80’s output in Years Of Decay or Under The Influence.

That said, you aren’t going to find a better opener than Coma in their library. Lightning fast drum work from drummer for hire, Jason Bittner of Shadows Fall and of course those vocals, which don’t seem to let up with age, courtesy of the ever present Bobby “Blitz” Ellsworth. Ending the album is the head nodder Solitude with its superb guitar trade off intro, effortlessly pulled off by guitarists Dave Linsk and Derek Tailer and then it’s into the second set. The Oberhausen crowd seemed right up for this, chanting in unison to Rotten To The Core and Hammerhead. Ellsworth, not a man known for his calm demeanour, belts the tracks out with all the urgency and aggression that he did back in 1985. Time does not seem to slow this man down. A rampaging cover of Fuck You by Subhumans, rounds off what is the closest that you are going get to the Overkill live experience, without actually going to a show, which after hearing this, I fully intend to… Chris Andrews

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