Overdose
Homicide Effect, Eternal Hated, Will Work For Blood
Eightball Club, Thessaloniki, Greece
13/06/09
A few days ago, on Saturday, June 13, 8ball Live Stage hosted a live show of the Greek bands Overdose, Homicide Effect, Eternal Hated and Will Work for Blood. It’s been a while since I last attended a show by local bands and the reason is that I believe that there are far too many underground bands active nowadays that it’s absolutely impossible to keep up with all of them… However, I’m happy that I actually did go to that show…
Will Work for Blood were the first to get on stage and as I found out during their performance this was actually their first live show ever! Given that, I decided to be a little bit indulgent in my critique as far as this band is concerned; After all, they’re good players… What struck me the most was the performance of their drummer! Even though he was very tight in the beginning, he soon loosened up and enjoyed it so much that I found it hard to focus on any other member of this band. I only have two remarks for Will Work for Blood: First of all, you guys need to find a way to stand out from the rest. What I mean by this is that, as I said before, there are far too many active underground bands these days, and thus it’s mandatory to find a way to be creative and if possible innovative in order to be different. This is the only way to make your music heard! Also, regarding vocals, I honestly didn’t like the fact that I couldn’t understand what the hell your songs where about! I loved the backing vocals but other than that I believe that your front-man needs to find a way to sing more clearly.
Moving on to Homicide Effect, one thing is certain: they are a band with great potential! They definitely seem so professional on stage that even before their second track I was speechless! Upfront lyrics, supreme performance by their front-man, catchy guitar riffs and groovy drums, composed one of the best performances of that night. Ross of Ross the Boss (also former guitarist of Manowar) once told me that it’s a trend nowadays, whenever an innovative band comes along, for thousands of other bands to pile up against it and I believe that this is also the case of Homicide Effect. I mean, I can tell just from watching these guys perform live once that their favorite band are Sepultura and this is not supposed to happen. Correct me if I’m wrong, but why on earth would anyone buy your album if they can listen to a far more professional production by Sepultura themselves? I’ve said it before and I’m going to say it again: You need to find a way to stand out from the rest of the bands, not to become just like them!
The third band to get on stage were Eternal Hated. At that point I started to wonder why the bands that performed that night put in so much effort to their backing vocals, rather than their main vocals… Again I couldn’t tell what the songs were about and on top of that I was bored, not to mention that it felt like watching a side version of Killswitch Engage on stage! My point of view is that, given that you choose such a style to follow in your music, you need to have a supreme stage performance and to be a spectacular player in order to make people enjoy your show. This doesn’t mean that Eternal Hated are not good players; just that they are not exquisite and by me this kind of music demands perfection.
Last but not least, Overdose came on stage to close the show with a unique performance in comparison to the rest of the bands that performed live that night. They performed several new tracks including “Beyond Hope of Salvation” and an “All Shall Perish” cover track, which to tell you the truth was played much better than I expected… What struck me the most, concerning this band’s performance, is the fact that they managed to communicate with the people in such a way that everyone got the sense that they participated in their own way to Overdose’s show. Even though their music is not the music I favor, I did have a great time watching this band perform live and at the end of the show I finally realized why there were people from different styles and backgrounds at the concert…
Overall, this was a good show; good bands, good performances, many things to remember and nothing repelling at all! What I believe is very important in commenting on these bands’ performances, is the fact that I would definitely attend another show just like this one…
Rena Kostopoulou.