Overkill: Electric Rattlesnake – new video

 

 

Pioneers of thrash metal, OVERKILL, have just released a new Kevin J Custer-directed video; ‘Electric Rattlesnake’ comes from their recently issued new album ‘The Electric Age’, out in the U.S. on eOne Music and in Europe (March 30th, 2012) on Nuclear Blast Records. The album, recorded and mixed at Gain Studios in New Jersey, owned and operated by OVERKILL bassist D.D. Verni (check out the “making of” it here and here on YouTube), has debuted on the Billboard Top 200 chart at number 73, and has sold approximately 6,700 units in its first week. Do your part and buy ‘The Electric Age’ here (Nuclear Blast).

“[Explained vocalist Bobby “Blitz” Ellsworth:] The whole songwriting and business aspect works for D.D. and myself because there’s a whole other level of relationship here that’s first. We’re these guys from this area who really kind of had the same background, brought up the same, became really good friends and have now done this together for a long period of time. We didn’t know that when we were starting our friendship, but as time goes on you kind of get that goal. We’ve both got that sideways Jersey smile, like we’ve got a secret that everybody else doesn’t know. We’re friends before we’re business partners. That’s the simplicity in this. It works because friends compromise with each other; friends listen, that’s why it kind of works with us. … We have a formula and that formula has worked for us for many years,” Ellsworth elaborated on the writing and recording process OVERKILL has come to perfect: “It’s really a balance between trading files back and forth across the net but also being in the same room. D.D. starts with a riff and then it develops over time. When the riff comes, the riff comes. The actual sit down writing process was about eight months. It was getting the drums together, getting the boys together in the room, making riffs into songs, changing arrangements and seeing how it develops. How technology helps that is that you can do a WAV file from New Jersey to Florida - where Dave is - if he’s not in the room. Songs can always be worked on even if you’re not in the studio or together. … I work with good people and I suppose the bottom line is I’m still excited about doing what we do best. And what we do best is OVERKILL,” he concluded.

Founded in 1980 in New Jersey by drummer Rat Skates and bassist D.D. Verni, soon joined by singer Bobby Ellsworth and guitarist Bobby Gustafson, OVERKILL released the ‘Power In Black’ demo in 1983 and a self-titled EP in 1984, before signing a multi-album record contract with Megaforce Records. Their debut full-length, ‘Feel The Fire’ was issued the following year and ‘Taking Over’ came in 1987, when founding member Skates left the band. Sid Falck took over the drums on 1988's ‘Under The Influence’ and ‘The Years Of Decay’ came next in 1989. Produced by Terry Date, OVERKILL's fourth album went on to sell 4 million copies. In 1990, guitarist Bobby Gustafson departed from the group; the gap was filled by guitaristsMerritt Gant and Rob Cannavino on OVERKILL's next release, 1991's ‘Horroscope’. 1993's ‘I Hear Black’, which debuted at number 122 on the Billboard Top 200, introduced new drummer Tim Mallare. The band self-produced their seventh effort, 1994's ‘W.F.O.’, the second and last album released on mainstream label Atlantic Records. 1996's ‘The Killing Kind’ was recorded with a new pair of guitarists, Joe Comeau and Sebastian Marino and released on CMC International as would be its successors, 1997's ‘From The Underground And Below’ and 1999's ‘Necroshine’. New guitarist, Dave Linsk, who was introduced on 2000's ‘Bloodletting’ was joined by Derek Tailer on 2003's ‘Killbox 13’. OVERKILL's second release on Spitfire Records was their thirteenth album ‘ReliXIV’, issued in 2005, followed by ‘Immortalis’ in 2007 on Bodog Music. In 2009, OVERKILL signed a multi-album deal with Nuclear Blast Records and eOne Music. Their fifteenth album, ‘Ironbound’, was issued in 2010:

“Over the course of 15 albums and a 30-year career, OVERKILL have proven time and time again that they’re one of the most relentlessly enduring bands in thrash metal. While modern bands have been taking metal into an increasingly esoteric direction, ‘Ironbound’ shows that sometimes the old ways are the best ways. While the album may not have any studio trickery or meandering prog epics, what it does deliver is a dose of old-fashioned, full-speed-ahead thrash,” [stated the fact Gregory Heaney, AllMusic – read the rest here]:

OVERKILL: Bring Me The Night – courtesy of Nuclear Blast Records