On a cold winter night with about 3 degrees F (-16 degrees C) I decided to make the short trip to Hartford, CT and see my old friends, OVERKILL and guests.  Originally, my kid was going to come along but he opted out at the last moment.  But I was not dissuaded and drove down alone.  Doors opened at 6:00 PM so, let's see, I figured I would get there at 9:00 PM.  As it turned out, good choice of timing.  

MELIAH RAGE: I never thought I would have a chance to see MELIAH RAGE again.  It has been a LOOOOONG time.  They were about half way through their set when I arrived.  Both guitar players and the drummer are from the original line-up.  For some reason I was surprised at this but admittedly did not do any research in advance.  They played a good show, good sound, but there were surprisingly few fans who had ever heard of them.  I suppose there were about 100 people in front of the stage.  They are from Boston, and Hartford is only about 1.5 hrs away.  I dunno, maybe I am getting old.  I bought their 2004 album "Barely Human" and thought it was quite average and certainly did not expect the band to keep going after that.  Come to find out they have a late 2006 release called "The Deep and Dreamless Sleep" that I was unaware of.  While I was there, they played only older material from "Kill to Survive" and I thought they did it well!  Heads were banging to "Bats Motel" and "Solitary Solitude". I had a chance to meet the band afterwards and gave them kudo's for a nice job.

METAL CHURCH:  OK, I'll admit it, while I have always thought that METAL CHURCH was an alright band, I never really got into them much.  I always found them to be a rather routine, yet solid band.  Last night however, they were quite impressive live.  They played a crisp show.  Even Ronny Munroe was very good.  I have not liked any CD's with him on it including their last CD "A light in the Dark".  But I give the band credit here.  They played a solid and enjoyable set, very tight, and a very broad selection of songs from throughout their history.  Ronny Munroe did a good David Wayne.  They played the obligatory songs including "Ton of Bricks", "Watch the Children Pray", etc.  Even though METAL CHURCH was good, I was interested in walking around a bit seeing the newly added second stage in this venue.  [Actually, I have not been to the Webster in a couple of years so I don't know precisely when they made this change.]  At first there was a local brutal death metal band playing…pretty routine and boring.  But then came the next band called 3 INCHES OF BLOOD and I decided to have a listen.   

3 INCHES OF BLOOD:  Somewhere in the back of my mind, I remember hearing something about this band a few years ago.  They are from Vancouver and looked it…with in part some scraggy haired, long bushy bearded, NIRVANA-worship-looking kids.  I was not expecting much.  Then just before they started the (what I thought was a) five piece band became a six piece band when a tall bald guy wearing a BEHERIT shirt joined on stage.  This second vocalist is an odd sort of addition because he is a metal-core-ish screamer used in a capacity to offset the high-pitched traditional metal shrill of the main vocalist.  Other than this added vocalist, the band clearly plays a traditional metal style.  At first, I was saying to myself, "What's with this hard core screamer?  This is going to suck."  Surprisingly to me, I actually found myself mildly enjoying the effect he gave.  He was the least significant part of the band and only served as an accent.  In any event, this band was not bad and gave me a break from seeing the quite good but very seen-it-all-before METAL CHURCH.  

OVERKILL:  Ah, the Mighty OVERKILL, highlight of the night!  I have been a big fan of LIVE OVERKILL for years.  They are from NJ and have played in Connecticut A LOT.  I have probably seen them 6 or 8 times over the years and they have always been KICK ASS.  I have not always been a huge fan of their studio work, but oh well.  This night was no different.  Bobby Blitz and the band (Verni, Mallare, Linsk, Tailer) kicked serious ass in their usual way.  I do not have the new album, "Relix IV", but I can say that most of the songs were an assortment of classics.  My neck is a bit sore this morning from experiencing an hour of OVERKILL last night.  By the time OVERKILL played, there were probably 600-700 people in attendance.  I have to say that OVERKILL is one of my favorite live bands of all time.  They play with a power, intensity, and enthusiasm matched by very few other acts.  

Overall a great (albeit C O L D) night for metal!

Title: Overkill/Metal Church/Meliah Rage/3 Inches Of Blood @ The Webster Theater, Hartford Connecticut, USA January 25, 2007
Category: Metal
Sub-Category: Metal Concert
Author: E. Rocker
Added: March 1st 2007
Viewed: 2247 Times
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