OVERKILL frontman Bobby “Blitz” Ellsworth spoke to MetalAsylum.net about the progress of the songriting sessions for the band’s follow-up to 2019’s “The Wings Of War” album. He said (see video below): “Our way of doing things was always face-to-face. Our social media was handshaking. Obviously, we had to embrace it as time went on with regard to what technology is, or you become a dinosaur and you’re left behind. But it’s always been a combination for us — it’s always been guys in a room, we get the ideas down, and then we take those ideas, we take ’em home, and then we use the technology to trade ideas. Instantaneous information. I mean, it’s perfect. So we get the best of both worlds. But under these circumstances, ’cause we’ve got guys out of state at this point. And the way the [coronavirus-related] rules were changed — sure, you can fly up here from Florida, but you’ve gotta quarantine for two weeks. But it can’t be in a studio with other people, ’cause that’s a public business and somebody’s private domicile…”
He continued: “But I think that we’ve adapted, and I’m trying to look at it from the best-case scenario, and that’s that because of the restriction put on our normality of at least seeing each other a few times during the writing period that it’s going to have a different flair to it — maybe a little bit more immediacy, maybe a little bit more ‘pissed-offedness,’ because our world was upside down, much like all of your worlds. I mean, I’m not saying that we’re special. I’m saying that we all took one on the chin. It’s just about who can get up after getting knocked down. That’s all it is. So I’m kind of hoping that this is a special record based on the circumstances, and also based on this specific time in history. It’s unprecedented on multiple levels.”
Asked of the lyrics will reflect the current social and political unrest in the United States, Bobby said: “You know me — I’m not political. I will socially pander here and there. I will for sure dance around the issue and allude to the issue, or issues, but I think that what we do, and one of the reasons we’ve been able to do this for so long and enjoy it is that we’ve separated it from much of that element. Now, I’m not saying it’s wrong for people to do that — to be political, to be social — I’m not saying that. They’re artists; they wanna do what they want. We’re more like craftsmen. We wanna be the departure from all the bullshit that you live your life in. Will we mention it? Of course. Will there be a tongue-in-cheek title? Of course. That will happen. Will it be we’re telling you how to live your life? Not a fucking chance.”
This past June, Ellsworth told A&P Reacts about the musical direction of OVERKILL‘s new songs: “I see it as a natural progression from ‘The Grinding Wheel’ [2017] and ‘The Wings Of War’. It think when we had done the ‘Ironbound’ record [2010], it almost became like a trilogy in there — it was kind of like ‘Ironbound’, ‘The Electric Age’ [2012] and ‘White Devil Armory’ [2014], and they seemed to be the Father, Son and the Holy Ghost kind of a thing. I think we kind of broke the mold a little bit with ‘The Grinding Wheel’, and then I think a little bit more with ‘The Wings Of War’. And on this one, I see it way more. And what I mean by that is that we’ve used other tools from our toolshed in the past, and that’s the slow grind that is coupled with that fast gallop. So it feels like a natural progression, but maybe two records ahead of what ‘The Wings Of War’ is. And that’s probably as objective as I can be.”
OVERKILL has spent most of the last year touring in support of its 19th studio LP, “The Wings Of War”, which was released in February 2019.
