OVERKILL's new album not scheduled before April 2023
18-03-2022
On March 10, 2022, OVERKILL frontman Bobby “Blitz” Ellsworth was interviewed by Mark Kadzielawa of 69 Faces Of Rock on the band’s tour bus outside The Forge in Joliet, Illinois. Speaking about the progress of the recording sessions for OVERKILL‘s 20th studio album, Blitz said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “We didn’t record all the parts yet. We like to keep it as fresh as possible. The drums are done; the guitars are done. D.D. [Verni, bass] and I need to sit down and finalize a few things. We’re looking for an April 2023 release, followed by a European tour.”
Asked about the musical direction of the new OVERKILL material, Blitz said: “It’s gonna be hard to figure it out for me until it actually takes shape. It seems a little bit more eclectic for us. It’s riff driven, not rhythm driven. The songs will contain two or three different riffs throughout it — the main [riff] and then two that are kind of secondary riffs, which I think is a little bit unique for us, to be singing over something like that. Heavy, of course. I mean, there’s some sledgehammer stuff on it — that kind of big, thick groove. I think the other side of it is that it shows kind of experienced speed, would be the word. Some of them just take off.”
Back in November 2020, Verni told MetalAsylum.net that OVERKILL‘s new LP would be mixed by Colin Richardson. “He did a couple of records for us, and he’s great,” Verni said.
Richardson previously worked with OVERKILL on 1997’s “From The Underground And Below”, 2000’s “Bloodletting” and 2003’s “Killbox 13”.
In June 2020, Ellsworth told A&P Reacts that the band’s new songs were “a natural progression from ‘The Grinding Wheel’ [2017] and ‘The Wings Of War’ [2019]. I think when we had done the ‘Ironbound’ record [2010], it almost became like a trilogy in there — it was kind of like ‘Ironbound’, ‘The Electric Age’ [2012] and ‘White Devil Armory’ [2014], and they seemed to be the Father, Son and the Holy Ghost kind of a thing,” he said. “I think we kind of broke the mold a little bit with ‘The Grinding Wheel’, and then I think a little bit more with ‘The Wings Of War’. And on this one, I see it way more. And what I mean by that is that we’ve used other tools from our toolshed in the past, and that’s the slow grind that is coupled with that fast gallop. So it feels like a natural progression, but maybe two records ahead of what ‘The Wings Of War’ is. And that’s probably as objective as I can be.”
OVERKILL spent most of 2019 and early 2020 touring in support of its 19th studio LP, “The Wings Of War”, which was released three years ago. The disc was recorded at Gear Recording Studio in New Jersey, SKH Studio in Florida and Jrod Productions with engineering handled by Verni and guitarist Dave Linsk. The album was produced by the band while Chris “Zeuss” Harris took care of the mixing and mastering. Travis Smith (NEVERMORE, OPETH, SOILWORK, DEATH) was again enlisted to create the artwork for the album.
“The Wings Of War” marked OVERKILL‘s recording debut with drummer Jason Bittner (SHADOWS FALL, FLOTSAM AND JETSAM), who joined the band in 2017.
Last month, Blitz confirmed that guitarist Dave Linsk is sitting out OVERKILL’s current U.S. tour due to “personal reasons” and is being temporarily replaced by former MACHINE HEAD and current VIO-LENCE guitarist Phil Demmel.
Social media