The legacy thrash band hits the road on an international trek that runs through mid-May. To complement their well-established live bombardment and new 2019 release, a metal vet joins them behind the skins. For their nineteenth studio album, The Wings of War, the seasoned thrash group Overkill recruited the established metal drummer who’d been backing them on the road since 2017, Jason Bittner [Shadows Fall, Flotsam and Jetsam]. Although this was the drummer’s first studio experience with the group, which was founded more than thirty years ago, Bittner’s history with Overkill goes way back. “I’ve known founding members Bobby ‘Blitz’ Ellsworth [vocals] and D. D. Verni [bass] since 1991,” says Jason. “When Shadows Fall went on hiatus in 2013, I ran the trajectory of playing with all of my favorite thrash bands that I grew up with. Or most of them—the Slayer job wasn’t open. [laughs] So I started filling […]

June 2019 Issue