OVERKILL Completes Work On New Album; February 2019 Release Expected

Veteran New Jersey thrashers OVERKILL have completed work on the follow-up to 2017's "The Grinding Wheel" album. The new disc mark the band's recording debut with drummer Jason Bittner (SHADOWS FALL, FLOTSAM AND JETSAM),who joined OVERKILL last year.

Speaking to SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation" earlier today (Wednesday, October 10),OVERKILL bassist D.D. Verni stated about the band's plans for the coming months: "We actually just finished mixing the new record — just buttoned it up two days ago. I just got the final sequencing and all that, so that's all buttoned up. We're working on the cover now. We still don't have a title — we're gonna have to come up with that soon — but we have a lot of things floating around. And the new release will probably be in February. The first week of March we're on tour back in Europe, and then we're back here in the States — we're working on the States tour right now. So that'll come out end of February next year, and then we'll be off and running; there'll be a lot of OVERKILL touring — festival season in the States, in Europe, back and forth, all over. The usual routine — try to hit everywhere."

OVERKILL singer Bobby "Blitz" Ellsworth told Brian Aberback of Patch.com about the musical direction of the band's new material: "What I notice about it is that there are parts of it that delve into really classic heavy metal that are spawned off the riff. There's kind of a brutal metal riff and then there's a heavy metal riff. The brutal riff being more in the modern sense of OVERKILL but the classic riff goes back into the feel of 'Feel The Fire', 'Taking Over', 'The Years Of Decay' kind of influence.

"I think what we're doing is staying with that classic riff but adding the brutality after," he continued. "So it has the vibe of classic heavy metal with that spawned aggression off of it. Obviously, we're not going to be progressive or off the tracks with where we're going. It's OVERKILL. But the internal end of that is really exciting because we notice every little different nuance in it. So I think it's going to be interesting."

Asked what Jason has brought to the band, Ellsworth said: "He's put a lot of work into the album and his excitement has spread to all of us. He's the first person in this band who's deeply, technically trained. That's one of the most exciting things about this project. This guy is pretty close to a virtuoso when hitting the skins."

OVERKILL released the "Live In Overhausen" DVD and Blu-Ray on May 18 via Nuclear Blast. The set was recorded more than two years ago in Oberhausen, Germany, where OVERKILL celebrated the 25th anniversary of "Horrorscope" and 30th anniversary of "Feel The Fire" by performing both albums in their entirety.

Photo credit: Stephanie Cabral