Overkill is a thrash metal band formed in 1980 in Old Bridge, New Jersey, by bassist D.D. Verni and drummer Rat Skates, with singer Bobby “Blitz” Ellsworth answering their ad. It is one of the oldest thrash bands still working. It has made 20 studio albums, and Blitz and Verni have played on every one. Start with The Years of Decay (1989).
The Short Version
- Formed: Old Bridge, New Jersey, 1980.
- Constant members: Bobby “Blitz” Ellsworth (vocals) and D.D. Verni (bass).
- Start with: The Years of Decay (1989), then Taking Over (1987) and Ironbound (2010).
- Status: active; 21st album in the works, Houston festival date in March 2027.
How Did Overkill Form?
Overkill grew out of a punk band. D.D. Verni and Rat Skates had played together in a punk group, and in 1980 they placed an ad for a guitarist and a singer. Guitarist Robert Pisarek answered it and brought Bobby Ellsworth with him.
Skates told Metal Asylum in a 2008 interview, as Blabbermouth reported, that he and Verni “went to the same high school and we had a band together, it was a punk rock band.”
The name came from Motörhead‘s second album, after the band rejected others, including Virgin Killer. The guitar chair turned over fast. Pisarek left in 1981, and Dan Spitz passed through before joining Anthrax. Bobby Gustafson arrived in 1982 and stayed eight years.
That four-piece cut the Power in Black demo in 1983. “Death Rider” landed on Metal Blade’s Metal Massacre volume 5, and “Feel the Fire” on New York Metal ‘84. A vinyl-only EP followed on Azra/Metal Storm in 1985. Our Metal Massacre history covers the compilation series that carried “Death Rider.”
Overkill Band Members, Then and Now
Two people have been in Overkill the whole time: Ellsworth on vocals and Verni on bass. Everyone else has changed at least once. The current lineup adds lead guitarist Dave Linsk (since 1999), rhythm guitarist Derek Tailer (since the early 2000s) and drummer Jeramie Kling, who debuted in Romania on August 30, 2024.
The drum stool tells the band’s timeline. Rat Skates left in 1987, telling Metal Asylum it was over “my dissatisfaction with the road and the business.” Sid Falck replaced him. Tim Mallare held the job from about 1993 to 2005, then Ron Lipnicki to 2017 and Jason Bittner to 2024.
The guitar line runs from Gustafson (1982–1990) to the twin-guitar pair of Rob Cannavino and Merritt Gant (1990–1995). Cannavino had been Gustafson’s guitar technician. Joe Comeau and Sebastian Marino came in from 1995, before Linsk and Tailer settled in.
Fill-ins have kept the band on the road. Christian Olde Wolbers covered bass on the spring 2026 U.S. tour while Verni dealt with a shoulder problem, and Phil Demmel, David Ellefson and others have stepped in before.
The Megaforce Years: Feel the Fire to The Years of Decay
Jon Zazula’s Megaforce Records released Feel the Fire on October 15, 1985. Carl Canedy produced it at Pyramid in Ithaca, New York. It did not reach the Billboard 200, but AllMusic’s Alex Henderson wrote that it “made quite a splash within the heavy metal community and listenership.” The band then toured Europe with Anthrax and the U.S. with Slayer.
Our New York thrash scene guide puts Overkill alongside Anthrax and Nuclear Assault in that East Coast world. What set Overkill apart was Blitz’s high voice and the punk roots. Feel the Fire closed with a cover of the Dead Boys’ 1977 song “Sonic Reducer,” though only on CD; the vinyl and cassette left it off.
Taking Over came out in March 1987, the band’s first record with Atlantic distribution. It was cut at Pyramid Sound with Alex Perialas and reached No. 191 on the Billboard 200. “Wrecking Crew” and “In Union We Stand” have been played at nearly every Overkill show since.
Under the Influence followed on July 5, 1988, with Sid Falck on drums. It peaked at No. 142 and spent 13 weeks on the Billboard 200, the band’s longest run there. Then came The Years of Decay, released October 13, 1989, and produced by the band with Terry Date at Carriage House in Stamford, Connecticut.
AllMusic’s Jason Anderson wrote that The Years of Decay “is often mentioned as the pinnacle of the East Coast thrashers’ recording career.” We agree. “Elimination,” “Time to Kill” and the eight-minute title track carry the whole Overkill sound in one place. It was also Gustafson’s last album with the band.
Overkill in Texas: The Pantera Connection
Overkill’s biggest mark on Texas is a sound. Wikipedia’s account of The Years of Decay says Pantera reportedly hired Terry Date for Cowboys from Hell because of that record. It also says Gustafson’s guitar tone influenced Dimebag Darrell and Pantera’s move from glam to thrash and groove.
Gustafson added a detail of his own. Talking to Blabbermouth in 2019 about “Drunken Wisdom,” a song he co-wrote with Verni and Ellsworth for Under the Influence, he said “Dimebag Darrell said it was a big influence on him.” Our Cowboys from Hell feature tells how Date got the Pantera job.
Pantera
Arlington, Texas. Start with Cowboys from Hell (1990), the Terry Date production that followed his Overkill record.
Rotting Corpse sits close to that story. Its 1987 and 1988 demos were engineered by Vinnie Paul at Jerry Abbott’s Pantego Sound studio, as our discography records. The Pantego Sound history covers the room itself.
Overkill keeps coming back to Texas in person, too. The band’s own tour archive lists San Antonio, Houston, El Paso and Dallas on its 2024 run with King Diamond. In April 2026 it played Houston’s House of Blues, Dallas’s Bomb Factory and San Antonio’s Aztec Theatre on a tour with Testament and Destruction, then a night of its own at Jake’s Sports Cafe in Lubbock on April 6.
How Did Overkill Survive the 1990s?
By working. With Gustafson gone in 1990, Cannavino and Gant made Horrorscope (1991) a twin-guitar record, and it reached the Top 30 of Billboard’s Heatseekers chart. I Hear Black (1993) and the self-produced W.F.O. (1994) both made the Heatseekers Top 10.
Atlantic and Overkill parted in 1995. The band moved to CMC International in the U.S. and kept releasing records: The Killing Kind (1996), From the Underground and Below (1997), Necroshine (1999) and the covers set Coverkill (1999).
The 2000s settled the modern lineup. Marino and Comeau were gone by Bloodletting (Metal-Is, October 2000), which had Dave Linsk as the only guitarist. Derek Tailer joined him on Killbox 13 (Spitfire, March 2003), and Tim Mallare drummed on that and ReliXIV (Spitfire, 2005). Ron Lipnicki made his studio debut on Immortalis (Bodog, October 2007), which featured Lamb of God’s Randy Blythe on “Skull and Bones” and reached No. 9 on Billboard’s Heatseekers chart. On October 30, 2009, the band announced a multi-album deal with Nuclear Blast.
Blitz’s health has twice made the news. He was treated for nose cancer in 1998, and in June 2002 he had a stroke on stage in Nuremberg, which the band later said was minor with no lasting effects. Our piece on how thrash survived the 1990s sets Overkill’s stubbornness against the rest of the genre.
Ironbound and the Nuclear Blast Era
Ironbound turned things around. Released in Europe on January 29, 2010, it was the band’s first album for Nuclear Blast, recorded in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, and mixed by Peter Tägtgren. It was Overkill’s first Billboard 200 entry in 17 years.
Other players heard it too. Exodus guitarist Gary Holt called it “one of their best records ever; it’s so good.” The charts kept climbing after that. The Electric Age (2012) reached No. 77, and White Devil Armory (2014) hit No. 31, the band’s best Billboard 200 showing.
The Grinding Wheel (2017) reached No. 69, and The Wings of War followed in 2019. Blitz has little time for nostalgia. Asked by Shredload in 2015 about an Overkill documentary, he said:
“I think that once you start making it historical, it has less contemporary value; it’s about what was.”
Scorched, the 20th studio album, came out on April 14, 2023. It reached No. 10 in Germany and No. 7 in Switzerland. Work on a 21st began in 2025. Blitz told Eddie Trunk on SiriusXM in March 2026 that “it’s pretty much done musically.” Verni told Drew Stone in April 2026 that he expected “a release early next year, February, March, something like that.”
Overkill Band Albums: Where to Start
Twenty studio albums is a lot. Here is the order we would take them in:
- The Years of Decay (Megaforce/Atlantic, 1989): the peak, and the Pantera link.
- Taking Over (Megaforce/Atlantic, 1987): “Wrecking Crew” and the classic four-piece.
- Ironbound (Nuclear Blast, 2010): the comeback, and the best way into the modern band.
- Feel the Fire (Megaforce, 1985): raw, fast and still the source of live staples like “Rotten to the Core.”
- Horrorscope (1991): the twin-guitar lineup’s strongest showing.
For a live record, take Wrecking Your Neck (1995) or Wrecking Everything (2002). Much of the post-1995 catalog is on the band’s own Bandcamp.
Overkill
Old Bridge, New Jersey, 1980. Start with The Years of Decay (1989), then Taking Over (1987) and Ironbound (2010).
Where to See Overkill Live
These are the upcoming dates we found on the band’s tour page, venue pages and festival announcements, as of October 2026. Texas comes first:
- March 18–20, 2027: Hell’s Heroes IX at White Oak Music Hall, 2915 N. Main St., Houston. KNAC’s lineup announcement bills “Overkill (Old School Set),” with Armored Saint and Metal Church.
Tickets - November 15–25, 2026: Europe and Asia with Kreator, seven dates from Istanbul on November 15 through Kazakhstan, Georgia, Cyprus and Athens to Belgrade on November 25.
Full list
Athens event page
White Oak Music Hall Open
Overkill plays an old-school set at Hell’s Heroes IX here in March 2027, the only upcoming Texas date we found. The complex has an outdoor Lawn and two indoor rooms; an indoor stage is pictured.
Photo: slee158 via Google
The Houston date is the one to plan around. Our Hell’s Heroes guide explains the festival.
Start with “Emotional Scars” (1988)
It opens the 1988 tape Vinnie Paul engineered at Pantego, the same year Overkill released Under the Influence, and it’s a straight thrash song about a soldier who comes home and can’t leave the war behind (lyrics).
Sources
- Wikipedia: Overkill (band)
- Wikipedia: Feel the Fire (Overkill album)
- Wikipedia: Taking Over (Overkill album)
- Wikipedia: Under the Influence (Overkill album)
- Wikipedia: The Years of Decay
- Wikipedia: Ironbound (album)
- Wikipedia: Scorched (Overkill album)
- Blabbermouth: Former Overkill drummer talks about band’s early days (Metal Asylum interview, March 2008)
- Blabbermouth: Bobby “Blitz” Ellsworth is honored by Motörhead comparisons (Shredload interview, September 2015)
- Blabbermouth: Ex-Overkill guitarist Bobby Gustafson’s Satans Taint (June 2019)
- Blabbermouth: Overkill to record new album this spring/summer (Trunk Nation interview, March 2026)
- Blabbermouth: Testament announces March/April 2026 U.S. tour with Overkill and Destruction (December 2025)
- Overkill official site: Tour dates and archive
- KNAC: Larry Petro, Band lineup announced for Hell’s Heroes IX (August 2026)
- White Oak Music Hall: Hell’s Heroes IX
- Floyd Live Music Venue: Kreator with special guests Overkill, November 23, 2026
- Blabbermouth: Watch Overkill perform at 2026 Sweden Rock Festival (D.D. Verni interview with Drew Stone, April 2026)
- Wikipedia: Bloodletting (Overkill album)
- Wikipedia: Killbox 13
- Wikipedia: ReliXIV
- Wikipedia: Immortalis (album)
Frequently Asked Questions
Who are the members of Overkill?
The current lineup is Bobby “Blitz” Ellsworth (vocals, since 1980), D.D. Verni (bass, since 1980), Dave Linsk (lead guitar, since 1999), Derek Tailer (rhythm guitar, since the early 2000s) and Jeramie Kling (drums, since 2024). Key former members include founding drummer Rat Skates, guitarist Bobby Gustafson (1982–1990), drummers Sid Falck, Tim Mallare, Ron Lipnicki and Jason Bittner, and guitarists Rob Cannavino, Merritt Gant, Joe Comeau and Sebastian Marino.
What is the best Overkill album to start with?
The Years of Decay (Megaforce/Atlantic, 1989). AllMusic calls it the pinnacle of the band’s recording career, and its guitar sound fed directly into Pantera’s Cowboys from Hell. Taking Over (1987) and Ironbound (2010) are the next two to hear.
How many albums has Overkill released?
Twenty studio albums, from Feel the Fire (1985) to Scorched (2023), plus the covers album Coverkill (1999) and live albums including Wrecking Your Neck (1995) and Wrecking Everything (2002). A 21st studio album was being written in 2026, and D.D. Verni told Drew Stone that April he expected it in early 2027.
Where did Overkill get its name?
From Motörhead’s second album, Overkill. The band had turned down other names, including Virgin Killer, before settling on it in 1980.
What is Overkill’s connection to Pantera?
Pantera reportedly hired producer Terry Date for Cowboys from Hell after his work on Overkill’s The Years of Decay, whose guitar tone influenced Dimebag Darrell. Former Overkill guitarist Bobby Gustafson also said Darrell called the Overkill song “Drunken Wisdom” a big influence.
Is Overkill still touring?
Yes. As of October 2026 the band is booked to open for Kreator on a November 2026 run that includes Istanbul and Athens, and to play an old-school set at Hell’s Heroes IX at White Oak Music Hall in Houston, March 18–20, 2027.
