BW&BK; recently caught up with OVERKILL frontman Bobby "Blitz" Ellsworth to discuss the band's new album, Ironbound, and celebrating 25 years in the trenches. An excerpt is available below:

Overkill’s album-to-album success or failure rate ultimately comes down to Ellsworth and bassist DD Verni. Unlike certain better known and better paid veteran songwriting duos who can’t agree from one day to the next on whether they still have a band, the pair have maintained a solid working relationship since Day 1 because at the end of the day they’ve always had same goal in sight.

“First and foremost, just to add to that comparison, we stay away from the collagen treatments (laughs). I really think it’s about priority. For us the bottom line is that decades ago we found something that we love, and love the record or hate the record it represents us at that point in time. I think the goal we’re always trying to attain is chasing and reliving that original high. That will show itself. When all the stars align and the moon is full and whatever else happens – Peter (Tägtgren) doing the mix, some great tours, the numbers are up – boom! It comes out like a fucking slab of lead. Ironbound is a heavy offering from people who obviously have it in them, who obviously know what they are and obviously love what they do.”
“It’s an understanding. It’s a bassist and a vocalist doing the writing but it comes down to the point on the arrowhead. Both of us realize that good metal songs are guitar and drum driven. These are the things that are paid attention to the most when these songs are going down. Whenever I mix an Overkill song I drop out and keep my mouth shut until the end, and I think that’s fair. I’ll throw in an opinion here and there because I’ll be completely objective when these guys are totally into this to the point that they can’t see the light of day, but the reality is it means much less where I am compared to where they are. All I am is the roof on the house, but if the house can’t stand who cares about the roof (laughs).”

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