OVERKILL Cancels Shows 'Due To Unforeseen Circumstances'

Veteran thrashers OVERKILL have canceled their previously announced shows in U.K., Ireland and Germany "due to unforeseen circumstances.'

The four-date run of dates was scheduled to kick off on May 27 in Northampton, U.K. and conclude on June 1 in Essen, Germany.

Earlier today, OVERKILL released the following statement via social media: "Due to unforeseen circumstances we are sorry to announce that we are having to cancel our UK/Ireland and Essen Dates. We will hopefully be able to make it up for those shows in 2023."

Guitarist Dave Linsk sat out OVERKILL's recent U.S. tour due to "personal reasons" and was temporarily replaced by former MACHINE HEAD and current VIO-LENCE guitarist Phil Demmel.

This past March, OVERKILL bassist D.D. Verni spoke to Hardrock Haven about the progress of the recording sessions for the band's 20th studio album. He said: "All the drums are done. All the guitars are done. I still have to do the bass. Blitz [Bobby Ellsworth, OVERKILL singer] has gotta get to his vocals. But I had almost all of it written when we went out on the tour before COVID, 'cause that's where we were in our cycle. So I had to have my part — the music for the record — pretty much done. I had two songs left that I had to do when I got back home. 'Cause that's where we needed to be, 'cause the record was supposed to come out in the fall of that year or whenever. But then we were, like, 'We've got a little extra time.' And then we had more extra time."

He continued: "It was funny, because usually I'll kind of demo up everything at home, all the songs, and I'll send it out to the guys, and then they'll learn the stuff from the demo and then we'll get together and play. [And then we'll decide] 'Maybe it should be faster or slower' — we kind of noodle around till it feels good in the room. But we weren't able to do that 'cause of COVID. But now that it's taken so long, we could have done that. So, I don't know exactly… This one's still gonna be a bit of an odd record 'cause it was kind of done all remotely — everything. We're gonna put out a record of songs that we've not one single time stood in a room and played together."

As for the musical direction of the new OVERKILL material, Verni said: "Compared to the other ones… It's hard to say. It's maybe got a little bit more SABBATH-y kind of parts in it, a little bit more doomy.

"I know Colin Richardson's gonna mix it," he added. "Poor Colin. We thought we were gonna do it, and then we pushed him off, and then we pushed him off again, and then we pushed him off again. An we said, 'You know what? We'll call you when we're ready.' So whenever that's gonna be, we'll call him again. But we're psyched about that 'cause he's just great. He's a great mixer and a great producer. So if nothing else, it'll sound great."

Richardson previously worked with OVERKILL on 1997's "From The Underground And Below", 2000's "Bloodletting" and 2003's "Killbox 13".