BOBBY 'BLITZ' ELLSWORTH To People Who Say OVERKILL Is 'A One-Trick Pony': 'You're Not Listening'

OVERKILL singer Bobby "Blitz" Ellsworth recently spoke to Chris Akin Presents about the band's twentieth studio album, "Scorched", which was released in April 2023 via Nuclear Blast Records. Regarding the fact that much of the LP was recorded during the coronavirus pandemic, Bobby said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Well, a bunch of it was, for sure, the direction was formed prior to the pandemic. I had the demo… somewhere in March of 2020. The direction was there — it was skeletal, but it was there. And D.D. [Verni, OVERKILL bassist] and I kept talking. I'm, like, 'Man, I could go in and record this tomorrow.' This was months after I had this demo. But I said, 'If we're not gonna tour it, what's the sense?' I mean, that's our visibility, is being on stage and transferring this from pressing 'play' to seeing it and feeling it live. So we both agreed. And that gave us that extra time to tinker. But primarily, it gave me the extra time, because Jason [Bittner, OVERKILL drummer] had done the drums by June of 2020, and the guitars started becoming layered and D.D. was adding bass and we were changing some shit here and there. But, fuck, man, I had three and a half years to mess with this, or maybe not three and a half years, but two and three-quarter years to mess with this record. And I think the results kind of speak for themselves, because it was a go-to in the pandemic. It was just this kind of a cool place to go that seemed normal when all this abnormality was raging around… So I think the results are something a little bit different, because you raise the bar in the heavy metal and then you put some blues in there and then you know this is happening rock and roll is happening."

Blitz added: "I've always said, if somebody says, 'Oh, OVERRKILL's a one-trick pony,' I'm, like, 'You're not listening.' [Laughs] It's not true. I mean, there is blues and there is rock and roll and there is traditional metal and there is progressive thrash and traditional trash and groove. But I think that in this case we had to raise the bar, to push the parameters, to make it just a little bit different than we would have in the past."

Mixing for "Scorched" was handled by Colin Richardson and his assistant engineer Chris Clancy, while Johnny Rodd helped with producing vocals. Mastering was overseen by Maor Appelbaum. Cover artwork was designed by Travis Smith.

"Scorched" was made available in the following formats; CD jewel, fluorescent green cassette (limited to 400 copies worldwide),longbox (limited to 1,000 copies worldwide) including the album in CD jewel format, a button and sticker, and finally double-LP vinyl.

Double-LP versions of "Scorched" were made available in the following colors; black, aztec gold (limited to 2,500 copies worldwide),fresh green (limited to 1,000 copies worldwide),and trans amber with fluorescent green.

OVERKILL's lineup is as follows:

Bobby "Blitz" Ellsworth (vocals)
Dave Linsk (lead guitar)
Derek Tailer (rhythm guitar)
D.D. Verni (bass)
Jason Bittner (drums)