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I've had my eye on these Belgian speed/thrashers for a while, but lack of time made it so I never heard but a few songs. Surge of Insanity: Live in Antwerp 2018 is a damn nice intro to the band if you want to see what they're capable of, with visuals to boot.

This is literally lifted off the mid-80s. I remember live videos back then looking a lot like this, and they tended to be my favourite type, seeing the band deliver the goods on stage. Evil Invaders look the '80s speed/thrash part: Long air, sleeveless t-shirts, jeans, slim guys and tons of energy on stage. No one could blame you for thinking that show was shot back in 1985. A lot has been said about "retro thrash bands" and the thrash revival, but when you do it as well as these guys, fuck the haters. This is awesome stuff.

The band keep it sober while providing enough visuals to make the stage set memorable. Lots of lights, some smokes and pyros, but nothing over the top. Ultimately, it's the live performance that counts and these guys totally nailed it. They're everywhere, they got the moves and the attitude, and you'll be hard-pressed not to get up and air guitar like a maniac and pretend you're on stage with them. There is a cover of Venom's "Witching Hour" where you feel like you're suddenly watching a different show: The lighting changes, the band becomes ever more energetic on stage (yikes) and it's just surreal. Surely this had to be their way of paying tribute to the British metal legends. This DVD really makes a good ambassador if they want to bring in more people to their live shows.

I mentioned that "they got the moves" and, unfortunately, more often than not the camera angles change way too quickly. I wish they had gone a bit easier on that and tried to stick a few more seconds on some band members when they were playing a cool guitar part or doing something cool. Despite this, the show is a hell of a lot of fun to watch, delivering pure old-school speed/thrash right to your screen.