Overkill’s Bobby Blitz appeared in a new interview with The Classic Metal Show, where he stated he is sure that Ozzy Osbourne would say he was in a blues band during their early years. While discussing the band’s recent album, ‘Scorched,’ he revealed that they wanted a little bit of a 70s songs in their record. He explained:
“We talked about the diversity of the record and we also just talked about doing 70s songs with Phil Demmel. One of the first things I’ve felt when I heard this, I heard the original riff and I got on the phone with D.D., and I’m like ‘Man it’s like f*cking Foghat on steroids. I was singing this in shower when I was 14.'”
Formed in 1968, Black Sabbath has become the pioneer of their genre. Highlighting the fact that the band would not be considered heavy metal since the genre was just starting to form back then, Blitz continued:
“It’s just that thick blues ride that takes you to kinda another era. It was so funny because somebody asked me when we were doing interviews, they’re like, ‘What about ‘Wicked Place’?’ I said, ‘How’s a metal band do a big fat blues ride like that? If you were interviewing Ozzy in 1972, he would tell you he was in a blues band, not a heavy metal band.'”
Overkill Wanted To Have The Blues Sound In ‘Scorched’
In the rocker’s words, he had a span of three and a half years to experiment and believes the outcomes inherently convey a message, as it became a preferred choice during the pandemic. As a result, the latest album elevated the standards in heavy metal, infused elements of blues, and embraced the ongoing essence of rock and roll.
The band initially started to record the album as the follow-up of their previous record, ‘The Wings of War.’ By April 2020, D. D. Verni had already penned nine songs for the upcoming album, and recording sessions commenced in September of the same year. Drum tracks were completed by October, and the mixing process was entrusted to Colin Richardson, known for his prior collaboration with Overkill in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
The release of the new album faced multiple delays, partly attributed to COVID-19. Originally slated for April 2021, the release date was first pushed back to the summer or fall of 2021, then further postponed to early 2022, and eventually rescheduled to the spring of 2023.
You can see the interview below.
