Flagbearers of East Coast thrash metal that they are, Overkill has set itself apart for 35 years from virtually every band of any metal genre in one respect: hiatuses. More appropriately, lack thereof.
While many artists who’ve been servicing metalheads over that span have taken multi-year breaks consisting of at least five years between albums, Overkill has set the unthinkable standard of releasing records every 1-3 years. In doing so, the brethren from New Jersey have managed to maintain original members in vocalist Bobby “Blitz” Ellsworth and bassist D.D. Verni, helping to explain recent album titles such as The Grinding Wheel and Ironbound (which Blitz spoke of exclusively with ATM aboard the 70000 Tons of Metal cruises in 2017 and 2012) as a testament to their fortitude and longevity.
As if releasing 19 original studio albums (plus a covers effort and a few live offerings) between 1985-2019 isn’t enough, Overkill has done so while resisting temptation of dropping a greatest-hits record. Then again, maybe that’s because Overkill defines the true measure of the underground scene even in their 50s and 60s given that arguably their biggest “hit” is a profanity-laced cover by The Subhumans (not to be confused with The Subhumans coming to the Rock Box on April 18) or that their second biggest – “Hello From the Gutter” – gained notoriety only because Beavis & Butt-head made fun of it (heh heh, heh heh!).
Overkill, like many artists, spent the majority of its career without the benefit of radio or MTV mainstream airplay. But they’ve survived and persevered thanks to the undying dedication of Ellsworth and Verni plus longtime veteran lead guitarist Dave Linsk and rhythm guitarist Derek “Skull” Tailer. Add former Shadows Fall drummer Jason Bittner to the mix, and you have the unified team that brought its act, along with New Orleans’ Exhorder and Hydraform, to the Aztec Theatre last Wednesday night in support of 19th album The Wings of War.
As evidenced by ATM’s footage below, plus Facebook Live clips of “Bring Me the Night,” new track “Distortion” and “Necroshine” here, Overkill was on fire once again. Playing, almost appropriately, to a lower-bowl filled/balcony-closed Aztec of approximately 600 fans (per a venue staffer), Overkill represented 10 of those 19 albums with thrash-pounding fury for those lucky enough to witness them, which included the band’s longtime drum tech Eddy Garcia of El Paso’s Pissing Razors.
To their credit, Overkill switched things up a bit from recent tours in which their habit was to open with the first song off their newest album before diving head first into “Rotten to the Core” off 1985 debut Feel the Fire. This time, after upholding the first part of that tradition with punishing new opener “Last Man Standing,” Ellsworth and Co. blitzed into “Electric Rattlesnake” off 2012’s The Electric Age, saving “Rotten to the Core” for one of the encores (watch below). Likewise, “Elimination”, normally relegated toward the end, was the fourth song of the night before vastly underrated “Bring Me the Night” unleashed Overkill’s power surge.
But speaking of one of Overkill’s best songs, off one of the genre’s most classic albums in 1987’s Taking Over, the group inexplicably left all tunes from that record off the menu. It would’ve been a blast to hear “Powersurge” or “Electro-Violence,” and at the very least “Wrecking Crew,” which has served as Overkill’s mantra for so long, it continued to brand one of the T-shirts at the merch booth (see 43-photo slideshow below). It also would’ve been great to hear something from 1988 follow-up Under the Influence besides “Hello From the Gutter” such as “Shred,” “Never Say Never” or “Drunken Wisdom.”
Bittner’s prowess on the drums rarely let up both with his arms and feet that pounded the double-bass unit. Somewhat ironically, one of his other former Shadows Fall mates – guitarist Jon Donais – has plied his trade for several years in the other most well-known East Coast thrash outfit — Anthrax.
Exhorder, meanwhile, delivered the goods as the middle band on the bill. Hailing from New Orleans, vocalist Kyle Thomas was joined by former Superjoint Ritual and Phil Anselmo solo-band guitarist Marzi Montazeri plus bassist Jason VieBrooks and drummer Sasha Horn. Watch ATM’s Facebook Live footage of “Slaughter in The Vatican” and “Cadence of the Dirge” below, which was dedicated in part to drummer Reed Mullin of Corrosion Of Conformity, who died Jan. 27.
The pedigree of Exhorder’s members is just as credible and fierce as their music, serving notice they’re a force to be reckoned with. Thomas and Montazeri, for starters, comprise half of the Houston-based outfit Heavy As Texas, while Horn was part of Forbidden’s final lineup that parted ways in 2012. Not to be outdone, Montazeri was in Superjoint with Anselmo as well as Phil Anselmo & The Illegals, and his own solo record featured the vocals of Tim “Ripper” Owens, all of which Montazeri discussed in 2017 with yours truly (listen here).
The debate often rages: if there was a Big 5, which band would join Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax — Overkill, Exodus, Testament or Death Angel? Such a conversation is virtually pointless, other than to have fun arguing with your friends, given that each of those bands is deserving and there isn’t a Big 5, period. And there’s no denying they each perform gigs as if their lives depend on it. Because their way of making a living actually does. Three of those so-called secondary thrash bands hail from the West Coast. The mighty Overkill represents the Garden State. And for one night in the Alamo City, that became the Lone Star State because Blitz said so (watch below). And he’s been doing so for 35 years.
That’s a big (5) enough cause to rally around.
SETLIST: Last Man Standing, Electric Rattlesnake, Hello From the Gutter, Elimination, Bring Me the Night, Distortion, Necroshine, Under One, Bastard Nation, Mean Green Killing Machine, Feel the Fire, Ironbound. Encores: Coma, Rotten to the Core, Fuck You, Welcome to the Garden State/Fuck You ending
