OVERKILL
Biography and discography of Overkill, the New Jersey thrash band formed in 1980, with a page for each of their twenty studio albums from the 1985 debut Feel the Fire to Scorched in 2023 and the covers album Coverkill, including running orders, CD details, liner notes, official videos and their concerts in Japan.
Biography
OVERKILL
Biography
Overkill are a thrash metal band formed in New Jersey, on America's East Coast, in 1980, and named after Motörhead's 1979 album. Built around singer Bobby "Blitz" Ellsworth and bassist D.D. Verni, they have changed line-ups without ever going on hiatus, releasing twenty studio albums from Feel the Fire in 1985 to Scorched in 2023. White Devil Armory (2014) reached number 31 on the Billboard 200 and The Wings of War (2019) number five in Germany, the band's best placings in each. They first played Japan in 1990 and have appeared at Thrash Domination three times and at Loud Park once.
Formation in New Jersey (1980-1984)
According to Ward Records, their Japanese label, and Creativeman, which promoted Loud Park 17, Overkill formed in 1980 around bassist D.D. Verni and drummer Rat Skates. The two had played together in a punk band, the Lubricunts; when it broke up they formed Virgin Killer, began playing with a local friend, Bobby "Blitz" Ellsworth, and eventually took the name Overkill. Ellsworth borrowed his nickname from Johnny Blitz of the Dead Boys. The band's own X profile also says "Formed 1980."
Ellsworth remembers meeting Verni and Skates when he was rehearsing with a guitarist, Rob Pisarek, in Pisarek's parents' basement in New City, New York: the two walked in on a ninety-degree summer day in leather jackets and leather trousers. They started as a covers band, playing Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Motörhead, Riot, the Dead Boys and the Ramones, and Ellsworth says Overkill came out of mixing the punk the other two brought with the New Wave of British Heavy Metal he was into. The guitar slot changed hands several times, Dan Spitz, later of Anthrax, among them, until Bobby Gustafson joined in 1982 and the line-up settled.
The 1983 demo Power in Black travelled the tape-trading underground and caught the attention of Megaforce Records. At L'Amour in Brooklyn they became the house band, managed by two of the club's owners, and Ellsworth says an average Overkill show drew about 1,750 people to a room licensed for about 1,200. In 1984 they signed to Metal Storm Records and recorded the four-song Overkill EP, but its release slipped by seven months and it came out after the debut album.
Megaforce and the debut (1985-1987)
The debut album, Feel the Fire, came out in 1985 on Megaforce Records, the label of Jon (Jonny) and Marsha Zazula. All of the first three albums were recorded at Pyramid Studios in Ithaca, New York, with Carl Canedy and Alex Perialas. Each of them closes with a song named after the band — "Overkill", "Overkill II (The Nightmare Continues)" and "Overkill III (Under the Influence)".
Between the first two albums Ellsworth developed polyps on his vocal cords and took lessons to learn to sing correctly. The second album, Taking Over (1987), was the first to go out through Atlantic while remaining a Megaforce release, and it was their first entry on the Billboard 200, at number 191. The title song of that year's !!!Fuck You!!! EP is by the Canadian punk band Subhumans, and Ellsworth has called the EP the band's only political statement, aimed at the PMRC's campaign to sticker records. Founding drummer Rat Skates left amicably after the EP, and Bobby "Sid" Falck, a Danish drummer who had played in Paul Di'Anno's Battlezone, replaced him.
The Atlantic years (1988-1995)
The video for "Hello From the Gutter" from Under the Influence (1988) was played on MTV's Headbangers Ball. For The Years of Decay (1989) the band went to producer Terry Date and Carriage House Studios in Stamford, Connecticut. When the main songwriters, Gustafson and Verni, had eight songs ready, "Elimination" was still unfinished; it was completed in the studio, went into heavy rotation on MTV and became the band's signature song. The album was inducted into Decibel magazine's Hall of Fame as number 85.
When Gustafson left in 1990, the band brought in two guitarists, Merritt Gant and Rob Cannavino, and became a five-piece. Horrorscope (1991), a heavy record that brought in elements of doom, became a fan favourite and their best-selling album of the SoundScan era, which began that year. I Hear Black (1993) was the first album Atlantic released on its own, without the Megaforce credit; Tim Mallare took over on drums, and it reached number 122 on the Billboard 200. W.F.O. (1994), a self-produced return to fast thrash, was their last album for Atlantic, and the live Wrecking Your Neck came out on CMC in 1995.
The independent years (1995-2009)
After Atlantic the band took over their own management in the mid-nineties. Ellsworth counts that era among the proudest in the band's history, and says he and Verni still approve every product carrying the Overkill name. Joe Comeau and Sebastian Marino took over the guitars on The Killing Kind (1996), and Colin Richardson mixed From the Underground and Below (1997), his first record with them. The title song of Necroshine (1999) reached Ellsworth from Verni three days after he asked for something to take his mind off a carcinoma on his nose. The covers album Coverkill came out the same year.
Bloodletting (2000) was made as a four-piece with Dave Linsk as the only guitarist. Derek Tailer joined as second guitarist in 2002, the year of the live album Wrecking Everything, recorded in Asbury Park, New Jersey. On 27 June 2002 Ellsworth collapsed during a show in Nuremberg, Germany; it was a minor stroke, and he was released after two days of tests. Richardson produced and mixed Killbox 13 (2003). Mallare left after ReliXIV (2005) and Ron Lipnicki, formerly of Hades, replaced him. Immortalis (2007) came out on Bodog Music, which reunited the band with the Zazulas, the people who had first signed them, and Randy Blythe of Lamb of God sings on its "Skull and Bones".
The Nuclear Blast years (2009-2023)
At the end of 2009 the band signed a multi-album deal with Nuclear Blast for the world outside North America and E1/Koch for North America, and released Ironbound in 2010. Peter Tägtgren mixed it, and it put them back on the Billboard 200 after seventeen years, at number 192. The Electric Age (2012), recorded at Verni's own Gear Recording Studios, reached number 77, and White Devil Armory (2014) number 31, the highest placing of their career. In 2015 the Nuclear Blast deal became worldwide, and the box set Historikill, covering 1995 to 2007, came out.
On 16 April 2016 in Oberhausen, Germany, the band played Horrorscope and Feel the Fire in full for their twenty-fifth and thirtieth anniversaries. Their sound engineer, Eddy Garcia, played drums in place of Lipnicki, who had stayed home for family reasons, and the show was released in 2018 as Live in Overhausen. The Grinding Wheel (2017), the first album mixed by Andy Sneap, reached number 69 on the Billboard 200 and number ten in Germany. That year Jason Bittner, known from Shadows Fall and Flotsam and Jetsam, became their drummer. The Wings of War (2019) entered the official German chart at number five, the band's best placing there. Scorched (2023) was recorded during the pandemic with each member working on his own, and came after the longest gap between albums in the band's history, a little over four years.
Since 2024
Bittner left after a show in Portugal on 1 August 2024, and Jeramie Kling, who had played with Venom Inc. and The Absence, took over; Ellsworth calls him an old friend who had worked with the band around the time of Ironbound. Since then other bassists have sometimes stood in on tour while Verni has his shoulder treated. In the spring of 2026 the band toured the United States with Testament and Destruction. In April 2026 Verni said he had most of the next album written and demoed, and expected it to come out early in 2027.
Chaly, the mascot
Many Overkill albums carry Chaly, the band's winged, horned skull. On Under the Influence (1988) he fires lasers from his eyes; on Ironbound (2010) he is locked up in prison; on The Electric Age (2012) he is strapped into the electric chair; and for Scorched (2023) Travis Smith painted two of him, as serpents. The news posts on the band's official site are signed "Chaly".
The members
The current members are Bobby "Blitz" Ellsworth (vocals), D.D. Verni (bass), Dave Linsk (lead guitar), Derek Tailer (rhythm guitar) and Jeramie Kling (drums), as listed on the band's official site. Ellsworth and Verni have been in the band from the start, and Verni is also its main songwriter. Ellsworth explains their partnership by saying they had the same upbringing and understand each other.
Former members include founding drummer Rat Skates (1980-1987), Bobby Gustafson (guitar, 1982-1990), Bobby "Sid" Falck (drums), Merritt Gant and Rob Cannavino (guitars, from 1990), Tim Mallare (drums, from before I Hear Black until 2005), Joe Comeau and Sebastian Marino (guitars, from The Killing Kind), Ron Lipnicki (drums, 2005-2017) and Jason Bittner (drums, 2017-2024). In 2007 Skates released Born in the Basement, a documentary film looking back on those early years. Ellsworth has also made American Made, an album of 1970s American rock covers, with Mike Portnoy and others as BPMD.
Discography
The twenty studio albums and the covers album, in order of release. Each has a page of its own with the running order, CD details, liner notes and official videos. There are also the Overkill EP, recorded in 1984, the !!!Fuck You!!! EP (1987), the live albums Wrecking Your Neck (1995), Wrecking Everything (2002) and Live in Overhausen (2018), and the box sets Historikill: 1995-2007 (2015) and The Atlantic Years 1986-1994 (2021).
| Released | Title | Label |
|---|---|---|
| 1985 | Feel the Fire | Megaforce Records |
| 1987 | Taking Over | Megaforce Worldwide / Atlantic |
| 5 July 1988 | Under the Influence | Megaforce Worldwide / Atlantic |
| 13 October 1989 | The Years of Decay | Megaforce Worldwide / Atlantic |
| 3 September 1991 | Horrorscope | Megaforce Worldwide / Atlantic |
| March 1993 | I Hear Black | Atlantic |
| July 1994 | W.F.O. | Atlantic |
| 5 March 1996 | The Killing Kind | CMC International |
| September 1997 | From the Underground and Below | CMC International |
| 23 February 1999 | Necroshine | CMC International |
| 26 October 1999 | Coverkill (covers album) | CMC International |
| October 2000 | Bloodletting | Steamhammer / Metal-is Records |
| 25 March 2003 | Killbox 13 | Spitfire Records |
| 21 March 2005 | ReliXIV | Regain Records / Spitfire Records |
| 9 October 2007 | Immortalis | Bodog Music |
| 29 January 2010 | Ironbound | Nuclear Blast / E1 Music |
| 27 March 2012 | The Electric Age | eOne Music / Nuclear Blast |
| 18 July 2014 | White Devil Armory | Nuclear Blast / eOne Music |
| 10 February 2017 | The Grinding Wheel | Nuclear Blast |
| 22 February 2019 | The Wings of War | Nuclear Blast |
| 14 April 2023 | Scorched | Nuclear Blast |
Concerts in Japan
The band first came to Japan in 1990 and returned eleven years later, in 2001, according to Ward Records, Loud Park 17 and Ellsworth himself. The dates and venues of the 1990 shows could not be established from a reliable source, so they are not in the table below. From 2004 they played Thrash Domination, the festival Club Citta' promotes, three times, headlining in 2004 when Testament withdrew. In 2010 they came back after six years, with a headline show of their own in Osaka as well, and in 2017 they played Loud Park for the first time, on the festival's first day. They were booked for Thrash Domination 2020 in September 2020, but the event itself was cancelled because of COVID-19. Ellsworth says Japanese audiences are very quiet until a show begins and then as crazy as any in South America.
| Date | Venue | Event |
|---|---|---|
| 30 January 2001 | Shinsaibashi BIGCAT (Osaka) | — |
| 31 January 2001 | Nagoya Bottom Line (Aichi) | — |
| 24 September 2004 | Namba Hatch (Osaka) | Thrash Domination 04 |
| 25 September 2004 | Club Citta Kawasaki (Kanagawa) | Thrash Domination 04 |
| 26 September 2004 | Club Citta Kawasaki (Kanagawa) | Thrash Domination 04 |
| 17 September 2010 | Umeda Shangri-La (Osaka) | Kill Fest Japan Tour 2010 (headline show) |
| 18 September 2010 | Club Citta Kawasaki (Kanagawa) | Thrash Domination 10 |
| 19 September 2010 | Club Citta Kawasaki (Kanagawa) | Thrash Domination 10 |
| 21 March 2015 | Club Citta Kawasaki (Kanagawa) | Thrash Domination 2015 |
| 22 March 2015 | Club Citta Kawasaki (Kanagawa) | Thrash Domination 2015 |
| 14 October 2017 | Saitama Super Arena (Saitama) | Loud Park 17 |
About the sources
This page is based on the band's official site, wreckingcrew.com (The History and the news posts, with the 2001 pages as the Internet Archive kept them); the band's own X profile; Nuclear Blast's album pages and news; the album pages of Ward Records, the band's Japanese label; the official site of Loud Park 17 (Creativeman); the Thrash Domination organiser's site and the schedules of Club Citta', Namba Hatch, Shinsaibashi BIGCAT and Nagoya Bottom Line, all as the Internet Archive kept them; Billboard's chart records; the official German chart; Blabbermouth.net, Louder (Metal Hammer), Loudwire, Decibel, Songfacts, BARKS, Gekirock, rockin'on, CDJournal and Tower Records' articles and product pages; MusicBrainz; and Wikidata. The English and Japanese Wikipedia were used only as a starting point, and every fact taken from them was checked against one of these sources. The Japanese editions' dates and catalogue numbers are on each album's page.
Trivia
The Japanese edition of The Grinding Wheel (2017) adds a cover of Iron Maiden's "Sanctuary" as a bonus for Japan alone, and its limited first pressing came with a DVD of the band's set at Thrash Domination 2015, which Ward Records, their Japanese label, secured by negotiating with the band at length. Of "Sanctuary", Ellsworth says they like to remember where they came from: as a covers band in the early eighties they played much of Iron Maiden's first two albums.
Overkill first came to Japan in 1990, and Ellsworth says he knew the Japanese radio host Masa Ito from early on through his show, and has long been friends with him. On every visit the band make time to see temples, shop for their families and catch up with old friends. Japanese audiences, he says, are very quiet until a show begins and then as crazy as any in South America, and that is what he loves about them.
Ellsworth's nickname comes from Johnny Blitz of the Dead Boys. In more than forty years six drummers have held the seat — Rat Skates, Bobby "Sid" Falck, Tim Mallare, Ron Lipnicki, Jason Bittner and Jeramie Kling — while Ellsworth and bassist D.D. Verni have been in the band since the start. Ellsworth puts that down to their having had the same upbringing, so that they understand each other.
Each of the first three albums ends with a song named after the band: "Overkill" on the debut Feel the Fire, "Overkill II (The Nightmare Continues)" on Taking Over and "Overkill III (Under the Influence)" on Under the Influence. Immortalis (2007) also closes with one, "Overkill V... The Brand".
The Wings of War (2019) entered the official German chart at number five, the best chart result Overkill have ever had in Germany. "And Chaly flies high!" said Ellsworth: "The highest he has flown in Deutschland!" In the United States their best is White Devil Armory (2014), which sold about 8,400 copies in its first week and entered the Billboard 200 at number 31.
The band took its name from Motörhead's 1979 album Overkill. Ellsworth tells how, at the last show of a 2008 European tour with Motörhead, in Germany, Lemmy asked him to sing "Overkill" with him that night. Ellsworth wrote the first word of each verse on his forearm; Lemmy caught him in the middle of the song and yelled "Cheat notes!" into his microphone in front of 10,000 Motörhead fans in Berlin.
D.D. Verni and Rat Skates had played together in a punk band, the Lubricunts. When it broke up they formed Virgin Killer, started playing with a local friend, Bobby "Blitz" Ellsworth, and eventually called themselves Overkill. Ellsworth remembers the day he met the two: he was rehearsing with a guitarist, Rob Pisarek, in Pisarek's parents' basement when they walked in on a ninety-degree summer day in leather jackets and leather trousers. They added punk to the traditional metal and New Wave of British Heavy Metal he was playing, he says, and somewhere between the two, Overkill came out.
The winged, horned skull on so many Overkill covers is called Chaly. On Under the Influence (1988) he fires lasers from his eyes at a man crawling out of a sewer; more than twenty years later he is locked up for his crimes on Ironbound and sentenced to the electric chair on The Electric Age. For Scorched (2023) Travis Smith painted two of him, as serpents. The news posts on the band's official site are signed by Chaly, and the site's contact page is called "Contact Chaly".
News
Ex-OVERKILL Drummer SID FALCK Launches BLOODSTONE, TX; Debut Single "Hellfire" Out October 31
The new band pairs Falck with former members of the Texas group THE OUTLAW DEVILS — vocalist Jerry Woolverton, guitarist Gary Wofford and bassist Rob Tate. The single arrives through DSN Music. Besides OVERKILL, Falck is known for his work with Paul Di’Anno’s band.
MEGADETH's DAVE MUSTAINE Names Bands That He Thinks Would Be Included In New 'Big Four' Of Thrash Metal
Asked by Czech Republic's Óčko which bands he would pick for a new young-generation "Big Four", Mustaine said: "Well, it wouldn't be a young generation, but I do believe that there are ways to do a new 'Big Four'." He named TESTAMENT, OVERKILL and EXODUS, and added TRIVIUM with a caveat: "TRIVIUM's not really a thrash metal band, so I'd have to think about that." He cited OVERKILL's importance to the East Coast metal scene, his long friendship with EXODUS guitarist Gary Holt, and the playing of TESTAMENT's Eric Peterson and Alex Skolnick.
Current Members
Current line-up as published by the band's official site, verified on 2026-10-02.
Albums
Overkill's twentieth album, released in April 2023 after the longest gap of their career, and recorded by each member on his own during the pandemic.
Overkill's nineteenth album, released in February 2019: the first with drummer Jason Bittner, and number five in Germany, their best chart placing there.
Overkill's eighteenth album, released in February 2017: the first mixed by Andy Sneap, with a cover painted by Travis Smith.
Overkill's seventeenth album, released in July 2014 with the Japanese edition first: number 31 on the Billboard 200, the highest placing of their career.
Overkill's sixteenth album, released in March 2012 and recorded at D.D. Verni's own Gear Recording Studios; it reached number 77 on the Billboard 200.
Overkill's fifteenth album, from January 2010: the first under their Nuclear Blast deal, mixed by Peter Tägtgren, and on the Billboard 200 after 17 years.
Overkill's fourteenth album, from October 2007 on Bodog Music, which reunited them with Jon and Marsha Zazula of Megaforce; Lamb of God's Randy Blythe guests.
Overkill's thirteenth album, released in March 2005 after a Japanese edition in February: the last with Tim Mallare, their drummer since 1993.
Overkill's twelfth album, released in March 2003: Derek Tailer's arrival made them a five-piece again, and Colin Richardson produced and mixed it.
Overkill's eleventh album, released in October 2000: made as a four-piece with Dave Linsk as the only guitarist, and mixed by Colin Richardson.
Overkill's covers album, from October 1999: it opens with Motörhead's "Overkill", from the album the band is named after, and runs from punk to hard rock.
Overkill's tenth album, released in February 1999 and recorded at the Carriage House in Stamford late in 1998, produced by the band with Andy Katz.
Overkill's ninth album, released in September 1997: the first mixed by Colin Richardson, heavier and darker, with a nod to the textures of its decade.
Overkill's eighth album, released in March 1996: their first after leaving Atlantic, with a new guitar pair in Joe Comeau and Sebastian Marino.
Overkill's seventh album, released in July 1994: self-produced, a return to fast thrash after the weight of its predecessor, and their last for Atlantic.
Overkill's sixth album, released in March 1993: their first for Atlantic alone, and the first with drummer Tim Mallare.
Overkill's fifth album, released in September 1991: the first as a five-piece with two guitarists, bringing elements of doom into their thrash.
Overkill's fourth album, recorded at the Carriage House in Stamford, Connecticut over June and July 1989 with Terry Date producing.
Overkill's third album, released in July 1988: the first with drummer Sid Falck, and the one whose "Hello From the Gutter" video was played on MTV.
Overkill's second album, recorded at Pyramid Sound Studios in Ithaca, New York from September to December 1986 and produced by the band with Alex Perialas.
Overkill's debut album, recorded at Pyramid in Ithaca, New York and released by Megaforce Records in 1985. It is one of the starting points of East Coast thrash.