Overkill / 3 Inches Of Blood / Purified In Blood / Degredead
7 October 2012
Islington Academy, London
Whilst Johan breezed into the Islington Academy in time to shoot openers Degredead, my own tardiness meant Purified In Blood were well into their set on my arrival. The band’s angry music was reflected in their onstage appearance; tattooed, muscular and posturing. Iron Hands bordered on industrial with its relentless drive and saw frontman Hallgeir Skretting Enokssen leaping into the crowd to encourage some movement. It was a tough ask from this crowd who were slow to warm and perhaps did not present the best audience for the Norwegian’s. I’d like to check them out again in front of a more welcoming crowd.
  
  
3 Inches Of Blood had no such issues, sparking interest right from opener Leather Lord. With Overkill’s stage set up to contend with, the Canadian’s were pushed for space presenting an unusually static performance. They made up for this with the energy of their music, with Deadly Sinners whizzing by fuelled by Cam Pipes high octane vocals. Fists were raised for Night Marauders and an excerpt from fellow countrymen Rush’s Tom Sawyer raised cheers during Battles & Brotherhood. All too soon The Goatrider’s Horde wrapped up a breathless thirty minute set.
  
3 Inches Of Blood setlist:
Leather Lord / Deadly Sinners / Metal Woman / Revenge Is a Vulture / Night Marauders / Destroy the Orcs / Battles and Brotherhood / The Goatrider's Horde
At last year’s Killfest, Overkill frontman Bobby “Blitz” Ellsworth drew reference to the band’s rekindled visits to England, noting “Four visits in three years, I should get a real job here.” Well that love affair appears to be showing no signs of dwindling with a visit to the 100 Club during the summer and once again returning to the Islington Academy tonight.
  
Whilst the numbers in attendance did look down on last year, this could partly be explained by the scheduling clash of Voivod playing at The Garage. This did not however equate to a lack of atmosphere, with the crowd’s response post Hello From The Gutter leading Blitz to exclaim that, “I’ve got a hard on!”
Overkill song writing had something of resurgence with 2010’s Ironbound and it was pleasing that two songs from that album retained their place in tonight’s set. Whilst The Electric Age didn’t quite hit the consistent high of its predecessor, the quality songs cherry picked from it shone through tonight. With repeat visits however, it’s the rarely played material that has the avid fans salivating and Overkill duly obliged. The Wait and Thunderhead were gladly received but Who Tends The Fire really came out of the blue with still the surprise of a punishing Coma to come.
Elsewhere the set is peppered with Overkill classics which the five piece have firmly nailed. Do Overkill do bad gigs? I’m not sure as I’ve never seen one.
Overkill setlist:
Come and Get It / Bring Me the Night / Rotten to the Core / It Lives / Electric Rattlesnake / Hello From the Gutter / Ironbound / Save Yourself / The Wait – New High In Lows / Thunderhead / Old School / Who Tends the Fire / In Union We Stand / Elimination / Coma / Fuck You / Powersurge
LINKS:
http://www.wreckingcrew.com
http://www.3inchesofblood.com
http://www.myspace.com/purifiedinblood
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