Overkill, Live at JAXX, October 30,
1999
This was an awesome show! I can honestly say that every band that
played the evening was good. 4 local bands opened up the show before
Overkill: Oppression, System Demise, Hate the way, and Circle of Nero. A
very broad range of styles and influences in the opening acts, which made
for a very well balanced show that evening.
Oppression was the first band on that night. I like these guys allot
and have reviewed their performance before. They are brutal, and remind me
allot of Old School Thrash Metal, something I like quite a bit. The singer
has a cool singing style....reminds me allot of early Pantera vocals but a
little more "Disgusted" sounding. The singer looks and sounds
like he truly is disgusted with society when he sings - I love it!
Musically, they use allot of awesome time changes and riffs..going from
raging to melodic several times in a song. Kinda like old Iced Earth in
some respects. They played "Gridlocked, "In the flesh",
"Beyond the reflection", "Brutality (my favorite!)"
and "The Cycle (another fave of mine).
System Demise were on next! Man these guys are cool. A definite
hardcore influence in them, especially Black Flag and Henry Rollins style
mixed with Biohazard. This has to be my favorite local Hardcore band. I
don't know if these guys are "Straight Edge" but they definitely
do Hardcore/Metal well. They played "Oxygen", "Mind
Tax", "Vicious Circle", "Steppigng Down", and
"Obsolete (my favorite)".
Hate the Way was on next. Interesting...they had Pumpkins on stage. A
good Halloween prop I suppose. They used the intro music to the film
"Halloween" before their set started. This band is extremely
down tuned, and had a few mixing problems that evening. The vocals would
break up and crackle a few times. Sometimes this club has sound problems
(especially with their CD player which is run into the sound board), and
that can screw with a bands performance unfortunately. Anyhow, this group
had very strong, strained vocals that reminded me allot of Crowbar or
Pro-Pain. They played the following songs: "Every Penny",
"Break", a cover of "Sweet Leaf", and
"Continue". I did notice there was a big crowd response from
this band, but they sounded a little too much like Crowbar for my personal
taste.
Circle of Nero went on next. These guys are great. I especially like
their drumming, which in my opinion makes this band. This was the evening
of their CD release party for "Massive Obliss". Circle of Nero
have vocals like the old singer from Corrosion of Conformity, and
musically have a Black Sabbath influence in what they do. They played the
following songs" "Church of the Pagan god", "Mother
Doom", "Massive Obliss", "Dark side of eternity",
"Walls of pain", "Thorazine Dream", and "Moon
Quake". The last 3 were my favorites off their self-released CD.
And, of course, Overkill came on next! These guys definitely can
deliver. They started up with "Necroshine", and used allot of
strobe lights during the fast double bass parts. They did this throughout
the show as a cool effect. They played "Where it hurts",
"Revalation", "Long time dyin", "Battle",
then "Shred". Blitz took a break to talk to the crowd next. He
said "Were dusting off a few from up in the attic. There is a big
difference between living in the past and remembering where you came from.
A big fucking difference!" (This is so true...may bands these
days are either rehashing old music or jumping on a bandwagon leaving
their roots behind for trends. Overkill does neither.) After which, Blitz
explained to us: " a wise man said religion is for those afraid of
going to hell. Spirituality is for those of us who have already been. This
next one is called 'Spiritual Void'". What a perfect into to a good
song!
Next Overkill played "It Lives", "E.vil N.ever D.ies",
"Hymn 43 (from Coverkill)", "Genocyde", "Rotton
to the core (yes!!!)", "Coma", "Deny the Cross
(another old fave), "Elimination (another one of my favorites), and
the standard Overkill closer: Fuck You!!! They end every show with this
one.
I encourage all of you readers to go see Overkill live. You will not be
disappointed. They play metal the way it was meant to be played: Loud,
Fast and MEAN!!!
Thanks to John
Gee for this review!
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