D.D. VERNI Says New OVERKILL Album Will 'Probably' Be Released In Early 2027

In a new interview with Drew Stone of The New York Hardcore Chronicles Live!, OVERKILL bassist D.D. Verni was asked why he isn't touring with the band right now as part of the "Thrash Of The Titans" run of shows with TESTAMENT and DESTRUCTION. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Ah, well, there's a few different reasons for that, but I would say probably the main one at this point is that I just need to kind of rest this arm some. And we're just support on this [tour]. This isn't our tour; this is a TESTAMENT tour. We're just kind of tagging along. I had another surgery done a little while ago, and just at this point, for something like this, I'm, like, 'All right, maybe it's best I just sit this one out.' So our friend Christian [Olde Wolbers, ex-FEAR FACTORY] is filling in. And it's just rolling on."

Elaborating on the physical issues which are preventing him from performing live with OVERKILL at the moment, Verni said: "I had the surgery once, I did all the P.T. [physical therapy]. They told me I was good. I went out on the road, and I completely ripped it off again. And I came back and I had to do it all over again. [I had] rotator cuff and a bicep tear — on both shoulders. It's just old-guy shit. But now if I blow it off again, if it tears off again, it's shoulder replacement, and I'm really trying to avoid that. But you know what's fucked up, though? It's only playing bass. I can't play sitting down anymore at all. I can play standing up, but if I sit with my arm kind of locked like that, I can't play it. I can't even get through a single song. But I can on a guitar. I don't know. It's something about the way I hold the pick and the amount [of weight and pressure] I'm putting on a specific spot. But that's the way it goes right now. I gotta get strong and get it back to place so I don't have to fucking worry about that shit anymore."

Verni went on to confirm that he is still a full-fledged member of OVERKILL. "Oh, yeah," he said. "I'm writing right now. I have most of the new OVERKILL record done, demoed up, for the most part ready to go. I just did a couple of new things yesterday. I thought it was ready to go. Then I had a couple other things that I wanted to add. So, for the most part it's all done. I gave it to Blitz [OVERKILL singer Bobby Ellsworth], I guess, a while ago, and he's been noodling around with it. So over the next — I don't know — six months or so, probably we'll jump in the studio somewhere along the way. And I would think we're probably looking at a release early next year, February, March, something like that. We got a couple of calls about some tours and some things then. So we'll see."

For the ongoing "Trash Of The Titans" U.S. tour with TESTAMENT and DESTRUCTION, OVERKILL is performing as a four-piece, with Bobby "Blitz" Ellsworth on vocals, Christian Olde Wolbers on bass, Jeramie Kling on drums and Dave Linsk on guitar. Longtime OVERKILL guitarist Derek Tailer is sitting out the current tour for reasons that have not been announced.

During a March 11 appearance on SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk", Ellsworth spoke about the progress of the songwriting sessions for OVERKILL's follow-up to the group's latest album, "Scorched", which came out in April 2023 via Nuclear Blast. He said: "I think we're always working on new music. That's been the motif since all the way back in the [early OVERKILL] days. You're always kind of in a writing mode. You're keeping your eyes open, you're in a writing mode, or at least my end of it. But we look to record it maybe at the end of [our U.S.] tour [with TESTAMENT and DESTRUCTION]. It's pretty much done musically. I have to add a few melody lines and a few harmonies and melodies and a few lyrics here and there. But we're looking at a '27 tour [and] maybe a late '26 release."

Olde Wolbers previously filled in for Verni in the fall of 2024 when OVERKILL supported KING DIAMOND on a North American tour.

For some of its European shows in September 2024, OVERKILL recruited ex-KREATOR bassist Christian "Speesy" Giesler as a temporary replacement for Verni.

Verni also sat out OVERKILL's April 2024 Latin American tour while he was recovering from shoulder surgery. Filling in for him on the trek was former MEGADETH bassist David Ellefson.

Last October, Ellsworth told the Metal Mayhem ROC podcast that he and his OVERKILL bandmates had "demoed out" the material for the group's upcoming album. "Jeramie Kling's playing drums for us now," he said. "[Former OVERKILL drummer] Jason Bittner moved on to other things… So we're just moving along as if there is no issue with D.D.."

In September 2025, Verni, who is the main songwriter in OVERKILL, told Jeff Gaudiosi of MisplacedStraws.com about OVERKILL's upcoming LP:  "We are demoing stuff right now. We probably have maybe nine or 10 songs kind of scratched out that I gave to Blitz a little while ago. Usually the process is I'll demo everything up musically [and] then I'll give it to Blitz. He'll spend some time with it and kind of do his thing with them. Then we get everybody together, kind of that. So I gave it to Blitz maybe not too long ago."

In August 2024, OVERKILL confirmed Kling as the group's new drummer. Kling joined the veteran New Jersey thrash metal outfit as the replacement for Bittner, who announced his exit from OVERKILL earlier that month.

A founding member of THE ABSENCE, Kling appeared on VENOM INC.'s second album, 2022's "There's Only Black", and has played with such acts as FORE, RIBSPREADER, GOREGÄNG and NECROMANCING THE STONE. He was also briefly affiliated with the reunited Florida death metal band MASSACRE, which led to the formation of INHUMAN CONDITION, alongside Terry Butler (OBITUARY, ex-DEATH) and Taylor Nordberg (DEICIDE). In addition to being a drummer, Kling is a recording engineer, producer and live sound engineer.

Bittner joined OVERKILL in 2017 and played drums on the band's last two studio albums, 2019's "The Wings Of War" and the aforementioned "Scorched".

OVERKILL played its first concert with Kling on August 30, 2024 at the Posada Rock festival in Câmpulung Muscel, Romania.