[3][4][5] The band has a notable mascot named "Chaly" (a skeletal bat with a skull-like face, horns, bony wings and green eyes) who has appeared on many of their album covers.

[9][10] The band experienced a resurgence of popularity in the U.S. during the 2010s, with three of their studio albums released that decade—The Electric Age (2012), White Devil Armory (2014) and The Grinding Wheel (2017)—all reaching the top 100 on the charts.

In 1981, the band went through a succession of guitarists after Robert Pisarek left, first being replaced by Dan Spitz and Anthony Ammendola, then Rich Conte and Mike Sherry, before settling with Bobby Gustafson in late 1982.

[13] It was around this time that the band started writing original songs, including "Grave Robbers" (later renamed "Raise the Dead"), "Overkill", and "Unleash the Beast (Within)".

Taking Over also brought the band public recognition, becoming their first album to enter the Billboard 200,[7] while Overkill's first-ever music video "In Union We Stand" received significant airplay on MTV's Headbangers Ball.

Overkill closed out the year with a one-off show at the Christmas on Earth festival in Leeds, England, together with Megadeth, Kreator, Nuclear Assault, Voivod, the Cro-Mags, Lȧȧz Rockit and Virus.

Overkill toured relentlessly in support of The Years of Decay between November 1989 and June 1990, with bands such as Testament, Wolfsbane, Dark Angel, Vio-lence, Mordred, Powermad, Whiplash and Excel.

Featuring the furious riffs and trade-off solos of new guitarists Cannavino and Gant, and the refined songwriting of Verni and Ellsworth, Horrorscope quickly silenced worries from fans that the band would not recover from their split with Gustafson.

Horrorscope was also Overkill's first album to be accompanied by more than one music video or single; there were music videos for the title track and "Thanx for Nothin'" (both of which received some good airplay on Headbangers Ball),[17] while other songs like "Coma", "Infectious" and the cover version of Edgar Winter's "Frankenstein" received particular attention (through radio or otherwise),[23][24][25] therefore expanding the band's popularity in the heavy metal community, and helping the album enter the Top 30 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart.

[26] Overkill supported Horrorscope by touring North America with Anacrusis and Galactic Cowboys in 1991[14][27] and Armored Saint in 1992,[28] after which drummer Sid Falck left the band.

Overkill continued to have bigger success overseas, mounting an extensive European tour in the fall, supported by Jag Panzer and Massacra.

With grunge dominating the airwaves in the United States, many heavy metal radio stations changing formats and Headbangers Ball going off the air, W.F.O.

The band was happy to leave the major label, where they felt they received little or no attention and signed to different record companies around the world (CMC International in the US).

[citation needed] In 1998, once again the band opted to tour only Europe in support of the album, hitting the road with Nevermore, Angel Dust and Nocturnal Rites.

While once again quite different from the previous records and musically not considered "classic" Overkill, the album was vocally even more experimental than The Killing Kind, and was well received by fans and critics alike.

October 1999 saw the release of Coverkill, an album consisting entirely of cover versions from bands that were especially influential to Overkill, such as Black Sabbath (featured three times), Kiss, Motörhead, Manowar, and the Ramones.

[7][35] The band happened to be playing at Times Square in New York City on May 1, 2010, as part of their Ironbound tour when someone nearby attempted unsuccessfully to blow a car up using fireworks.

[7] In 2013, the band embarked on The Dark Roots of Thrash tour of North America, headlined by labelmates Testament, and supported by Flotsam and Jetsam and 4Arm.

[44] On February 18, it was announced that Overkill was officially dropped out of the Dark Roots of Thrash tour as Blitz's condition had gotten slightly worse after the show in Worcester, Massachusetts.

[58] In a September 2015 interview, Bobby "Blitz" Ellsworth revealed that Overkill had begun writing their eighteenth studio album,[59][60][61] and by March 2016, they had "fully demoed" eleven songs for it.

[66] The Grinding Wheel was another successful album for Overkill; it reached at number 69 on the Billboard 200, making it the band's second-highest chart position behind White Devil Armory.

!kin' days" at the Wellmont Theater in New Jersey; supported by Demolition Hammer and Sworn Enemy, it was a make-up date for a show that was initially scheduled to take place on March 14, 2020, but was cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

[99][100] On December 9, 2022, the band debuted a new song titled "Wicked Place" during their performance at the Ruhrpott Metal Meeting festival in Oberhausen from their then-upcoming 20th studio album.

[104][105] The band performed at the parking lot of the MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey on August 6, 2023, the same day Metallica played at the venue as part of the latter's M72 World Tour.

[111] Later that month, it was revealed that Jeramie Kling was the band's new drummer,[112] and he played his first show with Overkill on August 30, at the Posada Rock festival in Câmpulung Muscel, Romania.

[113] During the band's summer and fall 2024 European tour, former Kreator bassist Christian "Speesy" Giesler filled in for Verni, who was unable to perform due to an ongoing "shoulder issue".

[114] Overkill (along with Night Demon) supported King Diamond on their Saint Lucifer's Hospital 1920 tour in North America from October to December 2024,[115] which saw current Vio-lence and former Fear Factory bassist Christian Olde Wolbers fill in for Verni.

Although their debut album Feel the Fire was not released until 1985, Overkill's beginnings predate the formation of all of the "Big Four" of thrash metal bands (Metallica, Megadeth, Anthrax and Slayer) by at least one year.

The band's music lacked enough variety to rival the names of the "Big Four",[120] but Overkill maintained its unique sound unwaveringly throughout its career instead of trying to gain popularity with a more commercial style.

Asked in September 2014 about the idea of either Overkill, Exodus or Testament being included in the "Big Five" of thrash metal, frontman Bobby Ellsworth replied, "Aw man, that's gonna put me in a corner!