Killswitch Engage's most recent album Atonement was released in 2019, and it seems as if the follow up to that LP is on the horizon. Just don't expect anything too soon. Singer Jesse Leach posted to Instagram an update on the band's progress recently, saying he's proud of the new material but of course the demos need to be reworked.
Considering the timeline Leach lays out in the post, it sounds like we won't be hearing a new record from Killswitch Engage until late 2024, perhaps, at the earliest. "When I make a record I get so lost in it, it can drag me down and truly hold me prisoner," Leach wrote.
He continued, saying "I've got the songs to show for it and I'm proud of my work so far! New [Killswitch Engage] album is almost demoed out and ready to be reworked and considered. Then on to re writing and deciding what the ideas and concepts are before we actually begin to attempt to record. Slow going for sure but I am really happy so far with what's come out of us. Grateful for a break and grateful to get back to it in a few days. I am fortunate, blessed and indeed lucky to be able to do what I do!"
In July of 2022, Leach described a stop-start cycle the band was in with the new record, as a result of touring commitments and other external factors.
"I think the big thing that was looming over us was it's been a long time since we sat and wrote a record," said Leach. "So getting back on the road and touring… that sort of fulfilled, like, 'Oh, we're back. We're doing this again. We're playing shows. We're in front of an audience.' We weren't able to interact as much as we would have wanted to [because of the pandemic]…"
"The conversation kept coming up of, like, 'What should we do?'," Leach continued. "Internationally, traveling kind of fell to the wayside for not just the pandemic, but the conflict in Ukraine. So once all that touring went away overseas, we had a bunch of time. So we've started to work on demos for a new record."
Saying that after touring, "we're really gonna be working on the record," Leach suggested the band would "[try] to get that wrapped up and done quickly too, because we want it to be a record that's not gonna take a lot of time to create," which kind of sounds like a contrast from this recent update, but that genuinely means nothing. Time is relevant but what is absolutely clear is Jesse Leach—and Killswitch Engage—wants to put out a strong record filled with high-energy, straight bangers.
"We want that raw, fresh feeling, so a lot of these demos I'm trying to [get] through quickly just to get the energy and then we'll sort of dissect them as new get into the studio. So I think there's a real spirit within us to put out new material and then tour on that new record come next year, hopefully. So that's kind of what we're all thinking."
