As a follow-up to the insanely infectious “Lunkhead”, D.D. Verni is back with another track to share from his forthcoming solo album. Check out “Cemetery Safari” below.

“So ‘Cemetery Safari’ is another fun one!” declares D.D. Verni. “Tongue-in-cheek lyrics with a Ramones groove, written about running around the world playing music for all these years and even now, how fun it still is to do!  Feels like a summertime song to me, and driving down the Jersey shore with the windows open and cranking the tunes!  Hopefully it brings some of that energy to the listener.”

M-Theory Audio is proud to present the forthcoming album, Dreadful Company, from Verni, in stores and online July 26. The solo project of legendary bassist, founding member and songwriter for over 40 years of the wrecking crew known as Overkill. Verni gives him the chance to step out and express himself without limitations. Much like his first solo album, 2018’s Barricade, D.D. wrote all the songs, produced, sang and played guitar and bass. While this album bears some resemblance to Barricade, D.D. lets his punk roots shine throughout this album, which leads to 11 blistering tracks chockfull of electrified songs and infectious sing-alongs.

Contributing drums to all 11 songs is fellow Overkill member Jason Bittner (also of Shadows Fall, Category 7), alongside some friendly guests throughout the album including Charlie Benante (Anthrax), Virus (Dope), Michael Romeo (Symphony X) and Charlie Calv (Angel, The Bronx Casket Co.). The whole affair was then mixed and mastered by Zeuss (Queensryche, Municipal Waste, Soulfly) with cover artwork designed by Travis Smith (Opeth, Devin Townsend, King Diamond).

Dreadful Company’ is available for pre-order now on CD and limited-edition vinyl including black/white marble or traditional black. All pre-orders via the M-Theory webstore or from Bandcamp include a signed photo.

“This one has been a long time comin’, so psyched to finally do a punk-ish record.  The best thing about these solo ventures is to be able to try out different stuff.  When Covid came I found I had a lot of time in the studio, which is not normally the case, so I used it to really ramp up on writing stuff and getting to some things on my bucket list done...this was one of ‘em,” explains D.D. “The mantra for the record was write it like a punk band and play it like a metal band.  So, when I was writing there was no palm mutes or metal twinged anything, all wide-open Ramones chords and then big melodies, then I came back later and started to add in the metal flavor.”

The first single, “Lunkhead,” has been turning heads and getting a bit of radio play, check the video below:

More information on Verni and the upcoming album release will be revealed in the weeks to come.