There is no doubt that my hardcore boner for live albums was started by the very first Iron Maiden album I purchased, Live After Death. Since that was my Maiden and live album introductions at the same time, I went blundering on through life thinking every live album is as good as that one. If anything, live albums stripped things down to the essentials. It was so fucking cool to hear Dave Murray in my left earphone and Adrian Smith in my right. Live albums rule!!!

How much you enjoy this particular album depends on two main things. One is if you liked the W.F.O. album, you are in for a treat as the majority of that album is played. I for one blast the shit out of said album so that's a win for me. Two is if you like authentic live albums. By authentic I mean you have the goddamn intro tape playing (in this case it's the Robocop theme), feedback squeals, and little change ups here and there. You can tell that very little has been done in cleaning up this performance, and simultaneously you bask in the glory that is this hardcore pro performance. Overkill is a live machine and this snapshot in time manages to capture the raging beast that is this fucking band.

My feelings toward the setlist are pretty favorable. See, I GET IT that this was the tour for the W.F.O. album and that many songs from said album would be played. There's this crazy concept I have that when I go see a band on a tour to support a new album, then they will probably, most likely, play a good amount of songs from their new album they spent fucking time and money writing and recording. That being said, there are a handful of songs from their eighties era that are represented. Wrecking Crew is much faster though and abbreviated, going into Powersurge after the first chorus. A couple of tracks from I Hear Black get some love, with the intro to World Of Hurt being particularly cool. But mostly the setlist is culled from W.F.O. and the future classic Horrorscope. So, either way, no one really loses on this one. Because this is a WHOLE SHOW that spans two long discs, if you are really butthurt about W.F.O., then you can just make a 70 min show of the other songs and go to your safe space. But I can't imagine the vast majority of Overkill fans truly disliking this album. They wouldn't be fans in the first place.

One of the things that gets said about Overkill is that they are "hard working," "diligent," and "always deliver." People say that shit because it is true and Wrecking Your Neck Live is auditory proof that on a performance level, this band brings "it" to every show. This is what they live for. Whether you are a hardcore fan of Overkill or just appreciate a well done live album, Wrecking Your Neck Live is highly, HIGHLY recomended.