Overkill and Prong Came To The Legendary Toad’s Place in New Haven Connecticut March 17 2022

March 20, 2022
International Concert Reviews
by Jody Wilk Photographer/Writer

On a warm March night in New Haven Connecticut, Legendary Thrash bands Overkill and Prong came to wake up this sleepy college town. Toad’s Place has hosted such bands as The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Billy Joel, U2, Slayer, The Black Crowes, and Dream Theater. Waiting in line, you could feel the excitement for a night of head-banging. After signing a release of liability for the potential for moshing and crowd surfing, we were allowed to enter the building. Once inside, we say that there were signs about every 4 feet that there was No Moshing, No Crowd Surfing, and No Stage Diving and violators would be ejected. (Isn’t that a form of crowd surfing?)

Opening the night was a local band Altar Ego. They are a hard rock band from Connecticut that was formed in 2013. Sporting original members Bobbi Nerone, Jay Morgan, and Art Kurpaska, they have recently recruited Bobbi’s 19 year old son Robert to play Bass Guitar. The bands influences are 80’s Hard Rock/Metal- Modern Rock/Metal, from a ballads to a upbeat rockers. Wearing black concert shirts and blue jeans, they hit the stage with an original, vintage/modern hard rock song called “Love Never Dies” off their upcoming release, Lit n Late which is coming out May 21,2022 on NeuroTronix Records and Promotions. “One Shot” has a party anthem feel to it and is sure to be a favorite. Jay Morgan’s Vocals were on point. After rocking through a few more originals, they ended the set with Skid Row’s “Get The Fuck Out” to crowd of head-banging and fist-pumping fans. I will be sure to check out their album release party, May 21 at Jamison Pub in Watertown, CT.

Altar Ego is:

Jay Morgan – Vocals aka Jay Bach

Bobbi Nerone – Guitar aka Bobbi Hill

Robert Nerone – Bass aka Rob Croucier

Art Kurpaska – Drums aka The pARTy Animal

Setlist:

Love Never Dies
One Shot
All Night Long
You Call This Livin’
Get The Fuck Out (Skid Row Cover)

Next up Living Wreckage took to the stage. They are a super-group comprised of members of Anthrax, Shadows Fall, Death Ray Vision, Downpour and Let Us Pray. Growling vocals and a heavy bass line on some songs really hit you in the chest. The often saturated, magenta or blue back lighting made an excellent backdrop for this hard-hitting Rock and Roll experience. Jeff Gard was flailing the mic cord around all night with vocals ranging from down and dirty to harmonizing. This, along with catchy riffs makes me think this band will become popular with the younger generation of metal-heads. Although security kept it to a minimum, the fans couldn’t help but mosh about. They ended the set with “Breaking Point”, a fast-paced song, with ear piercing vocals, and riffs that really got fists in the air. Living Wreckage is slated to have their debut album released sometime this year.

Living Wreckage is:

Jon Donais – Guitar

Matt Bachand – Bass

Jeff Gard – Vocals

Matt LeBreton – Guitar

Jon Morency – Drums

Setlist:

Friendly
One Foot in The Grave
Mark the Daze
Stink Below
Out of Time
Breaking Point

Prong is always a killer show, and I recently got to see them open for Black Label Society at The Webster Theater in Hartford Connecticut. Prong is a 3 piece metal band formed in the 1980’s. They have released 12 albums and had airplay on MTV. The house music went down and a loud familiar growling beep tone began to sound. “Warning, this is only a test” “Beeeeeeeep”, “Warning, this is only a Test”. This was the intro to their first song, appropriately named “Test”. Headed by front man and founder, Tommy Victor, this band provided an exciting evening of hard rocking heavy metal music lead by his growling vocals. All three band members sporting cutoff sleeves and tattoos, Tommy playing a Schecter Guitar, and Jason on a Fender Bass. They were all banging their heads and Tommy was jumping all over the stage. You could see how much fun he was having in his facial expressions. Their setlist included songs spanning their career, mostly 80’s to mid 90’s, along with “However It May End” off their 2017 release entitled Zero Days. “Snap Your Fingers, Snap your Neck” seemed to be the crowd favorite. After their 10 song set, the crowd had finally filled the place and was ready for Overkill.

Prong is:

Tommy Victor – guitars, lead vocals

Jason Christopher – bass, backing vocals

Griffin McCarthy – drums

Setlist:

Test
Disbelief
Beg to Differ
Unconditional
Cut-Rate
Broken Peace
Another Worldly Device
Whose Fist is this Anyway?
Snap Your Fingers, Snap Your Neck
However it May End

With 19 studio albums under their belt since their beginnings in 1980, Bobby Blitz of Overkill set the stage on fire with his searing vocals and never missed a beat. Belting out songs spanning their 42 year career, the crowd was head-banging and singing along. At times, there may have been some moshing and crowd surfing, although I didn’t see anyone get ejected from the show. Derek Tailer was interacting with the crowd during the whole show. Flipping them the bird and beaming them off the forehead with guitar picks. He also “picked” me while I was attempting to photograph him. (see photo). Dave Linsk has decided to sit out the 2022 tour due to personal reasons and Phil Demmel formerly of Machine Head and currently of Vio-Lence is filling in on lead guitar. The sixth song of the night, “Head of a Pin” was the only song off of their most current release The Wings of War until “Welcome to The Garden State”. “Garden State” has funny references to being from New Jersey and is sure to become a state favorite. If you love thrash metal, definitely check out Overkill on tour this year. It might just be the best show of the year!

Overkill is:

Carlos “D.D.” Verni – Bass, Backing Vocals (1980-Present)

Bobby “Blitz” Ellsworth – Lead Vocals (1980-Present)

Phil Demmel – Lead Guitar, Backing Vocals (2021-Present)

Derek “The Skull” Tailer – Rhythm Guitar, Backing Vocals (2001-Present)

Jason Bittner – Drums (2017-Present)

Setlist: