KILLSWITCH ENGAGE guitarist Adam Dutkiewicz recently gave an update on the status of the band’s next studio album
In an interview with Ore Bihovsky of TotalRock‘s “Louder” radio show, KILLSWITCH ENGAGE guitarist Adam Dutkiewicz spoke about the progress of the songwriting sessions for the band’s follow-up to 2019’s “Atonement” album. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “We’ve been demoing, writing. We’re still actually writing. We’ve been kind of busy with other side hustles and whatnot. But, yeah, [we’ve] just been taking our time and wanting to get Jesse [Leach, vocals] in the right head space and get him comfortable. But we’re pretty much ready to record now. We’ve just gotta wedge some time in between shows and tours and things going on within everybody’s lives.”
Asked if the challenges of staying productive during the coronavirus lockdown contributed to it taking this long for KILLSWITCH ENGAGE to come up with enough material for a new LP, Adam said: “Not necessarily. I’ve got a bunch of stuff going on. I’ve been writing a ton. But it was just more so pushing Jesse to get a little more, I guess just to vary it up a little bit more and maybe try to pull from other places for inspiration and just try to get some different lyrical content.”
In August 2019, “Atonement” saw its debut, hitting the music scene through Metal Blade Records in the U.S. and Sony Music Entertainment internationally. Noteworthy guest appearances on the album included the former vocalist of KILLSWITCH ENGAGE, Howard Jones, and the frontman of TESTAMENT, Chuck Billy. This release marked the third full-length album for the band since singer Jesse Leach‘s reentry in 2012.
Moving forward to July 2021, Leach and Dutkiewicz unveiled their second album under the TIMES OF GRACE project. Titled “Songs Of Loss And Separation“, this album was independently launched via their own label, Wicked Good Records. The distribution was handled by ADA Worldwide, signifying a significant step in their musical journey.
During a recent conversation with Ore Bihovsky on the “Louder” radio show of TotalRock, KILLSWITCH ENGAGE guitarist Adam Dutkiewicz unequivocally verified his involvement in a fresh collaborative endeavor alongside the band’s former vocalist Howard Jones.
“Yeah, me and Howard are doing a project together,” he said. “He just hit me up. He was, like, ‘Why don’t you write some music for me?’ And I was, like, ‘Sure.’ So yeah, we’re working on a record right now.”
As for when we can expect to hear the new material, Adam said: “I’ve got so much on my plate right now. It’s really hard to schedule anything particularly, like ‘it’s gonna come out at this point,’ ‘it’s gonna come out at this point,’ but we’re just almost at a situation where we can maybe release a single. But I think the entire record’s gonna take a little bit longer than expected. Because now I have to do double duty and record [the next] KILLSWITCH [album] at the same time. So I’ll be doing that.”
When asked if there is a name for the new project, Adam said: “Not yet. It’s still very much in the works. We’ve got maybe four songs completed — absolutely completed. We’re trying to do an entire record, though.”