BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE Parts Ways With Bassist JASON JAMES

Welsh metallers BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE have parted ways with bassist Jason James.

Says the band in a statement: "It is with regret that BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE has to announce that Jay James is no longer a member of the band.

"Jay has been a part of this band for well over 12 years and part of our lives forever, and we're gonna miss him as much as we know you guys are too. We wanna wish him all the best and success with whatever he chooses to do next and will always be grateful for his contribution and sacrifices he made for this band.

"We'll announce a replacement for Jay when we feel the time is right, but until then we're gonna be busy and focused recording our next record and making sure its the best album we've ever made.

"2015 is already shaping up to be a massive year for us, with lots of exciting things going on behind the scenes which we'll be announcing as soon as we can."

BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE recently entered the studio with producer Colin Richardson (CARCASS, FEAR FACTORY, MACHINE HEAD) and producer/engineer Carl Bown to begin recording its fifth album for a tentative summer release.

Says the band: "Going into this process, we couldn't be more happy or excited to have our man Colin Richardson back behind the desk again. We worked with Colin on our first two records, 'The Poison' and 'Scream Aim Fire' (as well as the self-titled BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE EP) and as we listened back to those records during the writing process for this new album, we realized what a special vibe and excitement these records have, and why they're held in such high respect by our fanbase.

"This album, though, is not about going backwards. We're excited to work with Colin again, but equally excited to be working with Carl Bown for the first time, who we consider the most exciting new British record producer out there right now, and the guy to help take this BULLET record to exciting new places."

A new song from BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE titled "Raising Hell" was premiered on the November 18, 2013 edition of BBC Radio 1's "Rock Show" with Daniel P. Carter and was released digitally on December 10, 2013.

The bandmembers, who only released their latest album, "Temper Temper", in March of 2013, recorded and produced the track themselves at Metropolis Studios in between finishing touring America and before their U.K. arena tour, where they debuted the track live for the first time ever.

The official "Raising Hell" video can be seen below. The clip was directed, produced and edited by James Sharrock.

BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE drummer Michael "Moose" Thomas told Billboard.com in an interview that the band's next album will be "completely different" from "Temper Temper".

"It's definitely more of a step towards our first two records," Thomas said. "We always like to keep changing our records and our sounds and stuff. I think you have to change, otherwise it gets boring for us and the fans get bored. Look at all the great bands through rock history; they changed on all their albums — especially METALLICA. Their albums have always changed, and they're the biggest metal band ever. So we just want to keep changing and get to another level each time out."

"Temper Temper" sold 44,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to land at position No. 13 on The Billboard 200 chart. The CD arrived in stores on February 12, 2013 via RCA.

"Raising Hell" video: