Overkill

Updated: September 22, 2026

Formed: 1980
Origin: Old Bridge, New Jersey, United States
Nationality: American
Members: Bobby Blitz Ellsworth, D.D. Verni, Dave Linsk, Derek Tailer, Jeramie Kling
Occupation: Musicians
Genres: Thrash metal, speed metal, heavy metal

Biography & Career:
Overkill is an American thrash metal band from New Jersey, formed in 1980 and still working at a pace most younger acts could not keep up with. Bassist D.D. Verni and vocalist Bobby Blitz Ellsworth are the two constants through more than four decades of lineup changes, joined by lead guitarist Dave Linsk, rhythm guitarist Derek Tailer and drummer Jeramie Kling, who took the stool in August 2024. The East Coast scene the group helped build also passed through names like Anthrax and Nuclear Assault, and early on a young Dan Spitz spent time in the ranks before heading elsewhere.

The debut arrived in 1985 on Megaforce, a raw, fast record that set the template: Verni's rumbling low-end, Ellsworth's shrieking, wildly recognisable voice and a refusal to soften anything for radio. The late 1980s brought the run of records that most fans still treat as untouchable, and where many peers spent the 1990s chasing trends, this band stayed loud and kept releasing. A creative second wind came in 2010 with a record widely described as one of the strongest thrash albums of its era, and the momentum has not really stopped since.

Twenty studio albums now sit in the catalogue, released without a single extended break, which is a rarer achievement in thrash than it sounds. The most recent one landed in 2023 through Nuclear Blast. Its follow-up has been written and demoed, with roughly ten tracks worked up and Kling recording behind the kit for the first time, though the release date has shifted more than once and now looks set for early 2027. The songs stay in familiar territory: mid-tempo grooves that suddenly snap into double-time, and lyrics built on stubbornness and survival rather than fantasy.

Live work is the real engine. 2026 brought festival slots including Sweden Rock, a US run alongside Testament and Destruction, and a November European and Eurasian tour as special guests of Kreator. Verni sat out part of the year recovering from shoulder surgery, with Christian Olde Wolbers of Fear Factory covering bass on the road. An Overkill concert still looks much as it did in 1990: no theatrics, no backing tracks, a shirtless frontman prowling the stage and a room full of black shirts.

Overkill Albums:
Feel the Fire
Taking Over
Under the Influence
The Years of Decay
Horrorscope
W.F.O.
Ironbound
The Electric Age
The Grinding Wheel
Scorched

Overkill Best Songs:
Rotten to the Core
In Union We Stand
Elimination
Coma
Horrorscope
Hello from the Gutter
Bring Me the Night
Ironbound
Electric Rattlesnake
Scorched