Overkill, Vader, God Dethroned, Warbringer, Evile, Woe Of Tyrants

Leaving Jersey 7ish, with traffic on the Pulaski Skyway and heading into the Lincoln Tunnel on this nice Saturday evening put me in the city around 9. 44th was blocked off to traffic and delaying our entrance into the venue. Once inside I learned several blocks in the area around Times Square were blocked off because of a bomb scare (which did turn out to be a real bomb that was detonated but did not explode…whooh…close call). Regardless of the impending doom just around the corner from the Nokia (all the surrounding Broadway shows were evacuated, don’t you just love how they forget us metalheads, hahaha), the show went on as scheduled with all the bands playing (what looked like) full sets and Overkill hitting the stage at 10:30.

Overkill are always Overkill, never veering away from their roots or putting out substandard albums (like several of their peers, well ok "I Hear Black" and "Killing Kind" were spotty), and in 2010, the Kill have released their strongest collection of songs since "Horrorscope", "Ironbound".

Opening this evening with ‘Green and Black’ set the crowd into a frenzy with ‘Rotten To The Core’ and ‘Wrecking Crew’ prompting the bouncers to exit the photographers from the photo pit early. ‘Ironbound’ got a reaction like it was already 20 years old, and I am so happy ‘Bare Bones’ (complete with the creepy piano intro) has made it to the stage.

Long-standing original members Bobby Blitz on vocals and bassist DD Verni are still joined by guitarists Dave Linsk and Derek Tailer, and relatively new member Ron Lipnicki who just tears up the drums (especially on the "Ironbound").

Fog, strobes, and solid green, blue and purple lights providing a nice wash of color silhouetting each member with small risers giving the stage some depth. Grates beneath the drums allowed lighting to shine through adding that to the feeling of being the inner city.

I have seen Overkill many times over the years (about 30), and with every album and tour the setlist gets switched up.

Now I’m guessing with the 25th anniversary of the band in 2010 is why it was like their greatest hits as 'Rotten To The Core’, ‘Elimination’, ‘Wrecking Crew’, and ‘Hello From The Gutter’, were played, again. Many times I have heard these replaced with other goodies from "Feel The Fire", "Taking Over", "Under The Influence", and "The Years of Decay". For example, tonight, the tile track to "Feel The Fire" was excellent. And I think it’s been a while since the song ‘Overkill’ (no, not Motorhead’s) has been included. Next time, for the second leg of the U.S. tour in the fall I’m hoping for ‘Time To Kill’ or ‘Evil Never Dies’, ‘In Union We Stand’ or ‘Electro-Violence’, ‘Hammerhead’, and ‘Shred’. O…and please dump ‘Old School’.

Setlists
Evile:
Infected Nations
We Who Are About To Die
Thrasher
Time No More
Enter The Grave

Warbringer:
Jackal
Living in a Whirlwind
Severed Reality
Total War
Scorched Earth
Prey For Death
Combat Shock

God Dethroned:
Soul Sweeper
Under a Darkening Sky
Nihilism
No Man's Land
Poison Fog
Boiling Blood
Villa Vampira

Vader:
This Is The War
Lead Us
Devilizer
Rise of the Undead
Never Say My Name
Sothis
Wings
Carnal
Shadowfear
The Crucified Ones
Impure

Overkill:
The Green And Black
Rotten To The Core
Wrecking Crew
Battle
Hello From The Gutter
Feel The Fire
Ironbound
Coma
Bare Bones
Gasoline Dream
Overkill
Bring Me The Night
Elimination
Necroshine
Old School
Fuck You/Sonic Reducer