Overkill is synonymous with power, precision and perseverance. Across three decades, the pioneering powerhouse has shaped, refined and steadily broadened a determined style of blue collar power metal, soaring melodic hard rock and genre-defining thrash built from steadfast, muscular pulls at their own proverbial bootstraps. Overkill continues to power ahead through the changing musical landscape, trends be damned, and has delivered an incisively supercharged and ridiculously energized new landmark in the form of The Electric Age.
Overkill has never had an identity crisis. We know who we are and to chase something else would just kill the purity, says vocalist Bobby Blitz Ellsworth. This is who we are, love it or hate it. New tracks like album opener Come and Get It, Black Daze and Old Wounds, New Scars brim with the attitude and passion of a band at the top of their game, with Ellsworth's signature vocals rising to the top alongside the steady rhythmic backbone of fellow band cofounder, bassist and chief songwriter D.D. Verni, whose very own GEAR Studios once again served as the gestation location where the long-running New Jersey legends incubated their latest recorded beast. Dave Linsk, lead guitarist for Overkill since 1999, ratchets up his signature shredding to uncharted levels alongside rhythm guitarist Derek The Skull Trailer. Ron Lipnicki fashions drum parts that always serve the songs first and foremost while tastefully displaying his formidable prowess behind the kit simultaneously. We have a formula and that formula has worked for us for many years, Ellsworth explains of the writing and recording process Overkill has perfected. It's really a balance between trading files back and forth across the net but also being in the same room. D.D. starts with a riff and then it develops over time. When the riff comes, the riff comes. The actual sit down writing process was about eight months. It was getting the drums together, getting the boys together in the room, making riffs into songs, changing arrangements and seeing how it develops. How technology helps that is that you can do a WAV file from New Jersey to Florida - where Dave is - if he's not in the room. Songs can always be worked on even if you're not in the studio or together. So it's a combination of both. The Electric Age serves as an instant reminder as to why Overkill is held in high regard the world over as one of the pioneering thrash metal bands. Overkill's Years of Decay was recently inducted into Decibel Magazine's lofty Hall Of Fame alongside similarly influential metal masterworks like Slayer's Reign in Blood, Anthrax's Among the Living and Metallica's ...And Justice for All. And truth be told, Overkill has maintained a level of excellence and consistency across their entire catalog that knows few rivals in any genre.