LIVING WRECKAGE & INVERTER HEAT UP THE CELLAR ON TREADWELL IN HAMDEN, CT

 Photos By: Holly Roy Photography
Review By: Kat Gullage

Our favorite outlandish metal haranguers and pizza connoisseurs outta Boston, Inverter, served up an in-your-face performance like only they can. The band, which began as a studio project between guitarist Bill “Release The” Bracken and frontman Derek “Deek” Diedricksen, morphed into a four man group with the add of bassist Jimmy Evangelista and drummer Jeff “El Jefe” Lawn. Inverter continues to garner more gigs and fans by the minute. The group has five LPs, their eight song set hit on three of em plus a special surprise inside!

Deek’s husky voice immediately filled the space, “Hamden, it’s good to be back”, before the band unleashed two from Welcome To Earth, beginning with the title track that includes the lyrics/warning-to-aliens “Welcome to Earth, now get the fuck out!”. Deek introduced the band with “We are Inverter from the planet fuck. 69th planet from the sun. It’s cold there.”

One of my fave bangers, “Electro Shock Body Rock” gave us a jolt and threw some heat. Mid-song Deek executed a high kick that came tread-smelling close to a guy’s face at the rail. “It’s hot up here. Jimmy almost wore his daisy dukes with Juicy bedazzled on the ass. He’s taken ladies, control yourselves.” The singer sported glasses that glowed like uranium glass but, alas, were not radioactive. “Living Wreckage is coming up. They’re gonna rip the skin off your skulls.”

Deek questioned the audience if they should perform “Last Summer” off Another Avalanche. The response was a resounding “Yes!” but honestly he could’ve said any song, would’ve gotten the same reaction. Bracken gave a shout out, “Thanks for bringing me deodorant!” Deek added, “We all thank you for that.” It was back to Welcome To Earth for “Devastate” and “Aztec Death Whistle”.

The frontman confessed the group’s pizza obsession, which has been immortalized visually on their new t-shirts. “We keep coming here and getting fatter.” Our special surprise was a brand new track, “Four Man Killing Machine” and it ended up being my fave of the set. Inverter wrapped with two from Sonic Vandalism, “Monsters Robot Graffiti!”, where Deek added, “I kept it clean. I usually say suck my dick.” “Bow Down To Zod” was the closer of the audio assault, “Thank you guys. We’re Inverter.” This band oozes multi-talented musicians, artists and performers. Would recommend, grab yourself a slice!

Living Wreckage is a five man supergroup came together during the C-19 pandemic and this girl right here appreciates the music that spawned from those jam sessions. The band is: guitarists Jon Donais (Anthrax, Shadows Fall) and Matt LeBreton (Downpour), bassist Matt Bachand (Shadows Fall), drummer Jon Morency (Let Us Pray) and, since 2023, vocalist Sage King, a locally renowned singer. It’s a recipe for a modern take on thrash infused crushing metal.

They opened with “Righteous Side Of Sanity” (2026 single) and I got everything I wanted in just this one song. The intro is ballad-like, a slow roll that builds into heavy riffs while showcasing Sage’s range, mesmerizing melodies to guttural yells.

The onslaught continued with “Breaking Point” (Living Wreckage) before Sage addressed the loyals. “What the fuck is up Connecticut?! Good to be back in my home state cuz you keep rolling in when we come through town. Here’s a new song that we just played for the first time in New Hampshire last night.” The track, “Judas,” is a single from their upcoming album, followed by a previously unreleased song, “Ready For War.”

Y’all know I’m not a fan of covers. I’ll admit there’s a time and place for them, like a Friday night at your local rock venue, dive bar or honky tonk. The band’s version of Audioslave’s “Show Me How To Live” was solid, the crowd loved it. I’d already seen Sage in an Audioslave cover band so he had the proven chops.

I don’t have many more notes because I was at the rail the whole night rocking the fuck out. Sage is known for jumping down and getting in the fans’ faces and a coupla times I closed my eyes cuz I was vibing hard with the music and when I opened em, Sage was directly in front of me! Living Wreckage kept rollin with “Desolation Place” and “The End Of The Line” before slapping me with another cover, Iron Maiden’s “2 Minutes To Midnight”. It was a good song choice as it flexed the band’s inspirations, the legends of heavy progressive metal, and everyone in the room knew at least the chorus.

Still glued to the rail, I head-banged my way through “Skeleton” and two more off of Living Wreckage, “One Foot In The Grave” and “Out Of Time”, which unfortunately turned out to be the one-to-go mark. “Alright, let’s hear it one more time for all the bands and all the fuckin staff here again tonight, they let us do what we do. Staff, sound guy, thank you guys so much for making this place be what it is, like I said it’s always like family when we roll in this place. We got one more song for ya.” I started booing and yelled “Ya mean two?” while other people joined in yelling random numbers.

“Like I said it does mean a lot that you’re here with us, you could be anywhere, you could be at home, you could be at another show, you could be fuckin doing whatever ya wanted, but ya chose to be here spendin your hard earned money rockin with us in this room tonight, this sweaty room, so that means the world.” Sage is always so genuine and authentic when he gives thanks, no canned rock star bullshit. He invited both veteran and new fans to meet them at the merch booth. “We like whiskey!” “OK we got one more for ya, it’s coming out next year, it’s called “TAKE ME ALIVE” (he sang/growled the title). Mid-song the frontman stood on the rail, hovering over us, while the band continued a subdued play behind him. “Fuck yeah Connecticut we love you! This has always been the home state, so I love comin back here & playin. Playing original music is a lot of fuckin hard work these days and it’s really hard to fuckin make a community. So when you get people in a room together all feelin the same fuckin thing, lettin all the shit from the outside world go for three hours, that’s hard, that’s not an easy task these days. But we’re doin it, you’re livin it right here in this moment. If there’s anything in life holdin ya back, fuckin don’t let it take you alive.” Lemme tell ya, that new song is fire. Catchy chorus, killer vocal range, shifting tempos, can’t wait for it to come out!

If you love vintage thrash with guttural punches to the face, check out Living Wreckage. Their next chapter is going to crush it! See ya at the rail!

INVERTER

LIVING WRECKAGE