JAMEY JASTA: HATEBREED's New Album Will Be The Band's 'Most Ignorant, Heavy, Caveman-Esque Record Yet'

In a new interview with Mark "Elwood" Mailler, vocalist Jamey Jasta of Connecticut hardcore/metal veterans HATEBREED was asked what fans can expect from the band's upcoming studio album. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "This is our most ignorant, heavy, caveman-esque record yet. We really just went back to basics, played on all our strengths.

"Every band goes, 'Oh, this is our most melodic. We're our most heavy.' There's no melody, so we won't even bother with that," Jasta explained. "It's definitely just more of the same, going back to the same well, which we just love and appreciate. And it was the most fun we've ever had doing a record."

As for when the follow-up to HATEBREED's 2020 LP "Weight Of The False Self" will be released, Jamey said: "This record will be mixed and mastered probably over the next two weeks, and we'll have a date in the fall. If people wanna get their name in the thanks list, they got a couple more days to do that too. This is the first time we did everything totally independent, and then we'll decide — we're gonna decide on the label probably next week, because we did it totally independent. We had full creative control, which is amazing, for the first time ever. And, yeah, we're really happy with that."

On the topic of HATEBREED's touring plans for the coming months, Jamey said: "We're still down for the nostalgia. We're still down to always dip our toes in the waters of yesteryear, and that's what we're gonna be doing at the Cobra Lounge [in Chicago in July 2026, where HATEBREED will headline The Rumble]. But that's the last one for a long time because we've really neglected the rest of the world. We haven't been to Australia… Well, we went for Knotfest, but we haven't been for a full headline tour, where you go to Perth, and we haven't been to South America. We haven't been back to Southeast Asia, I think, since like 2009, 2010. We haven't been back to any of the Eastern countries, like Serbia. And this year we're going to Estonia and we're going to Latvia. I think we're also going to some of the places like Croatia and all those spots. So that takes up a lot of time, especially when you're trying to go to Western Canada. You go out to Edmonton and Alberta and all those places. So I'm telling everybody, 'See us now or forever hold your peace,' because we're not gonna be doing any more of these no-barricade shows after The Rumble and after Hellfest [NJ] in Jersey, because we're gonna be on this long worldwide tour. So come see us at Cobra Lounge July 17th. Come see us in Fort Wayne [Indiana] at Century Music Hall July 22nd, and any other shows that you see, 'cause we won't be back for a while. If anybody wants to make the trip up to Minneapolis too, we're doing SLAYER's 40th anniversary of 'Reign In Blood'. I know a bunch of people are coming up from Chicago and Joliet and Milwaukee, so that'll be fun. That's gonna be in September. But, yeah, check out the Summer Slaughter tour."

This past February, HATEBREED guitarist Frank Novinec told Hardlore about the band's upcoming album: "[It's] coming out this year, yeah. Most, of it's pretty much — I mean, it's done."

Referencing the fact that HATEBREED released its first new single in nearly five years, "Make The Demons Obey", last July, Frank continued: "The nice thing about in this era — I was telling somebody the other day that's not in the music business like we are — the nice thing about the way things are rolled out now, I think, is you can drop a single even if you have the whole record done, and be, like, 'All right, now there's all this time', where you can really review what you've done and you could really change something that you didn't like or even make another song and all that. It's not, like, 'Okay, there's the record, there's the two videos. Here's what are supposed to be the singles. And that's it.' So it's nice to be able to drop the single, which we had a great response for. We love the song. As far as the band's concerned, we're real happy with 'Make The Demons Obey'. And we'll probably leak another one here soon. And there'll probably be proper videos coming after that."

Novinec, who joined HATEBREED as a full-time member in 2006, was also asked if he has had any major writing contributions to the band's albums since he became part of the group 20 years ago. He responded: "No. I think I have one riff on one song. It was always [founding HATEBREED bassist] Chris [Beattie] and Jamey writing the music. That's it. From day one, it's Chris and Jamey. They're the guys [who wrote all the music] from day one, for the most part."

Regarding how the recent departure of Beattie has changed the songwriting dynamic within HATEBREED, Frank said: "[HATEBREED guitarist] Wayne [Lozinak], I think, is… We all have our ideas about songs. Songs are presented, [and then we say], 'Hey, I think we should change this,' 'Hey, I think this riff should go longer.'

"I'm not a groove dude like that when it comes to writing," Frank explained. "I'm not somebody that's trying to show up and break something that's not broken."

At last year's Louder Than Life festival in Louisville, Kentucky, HATEBREED drummer Matt Byrne spoke to The Kevin Powell Podcast about the band's next studio album. Matt said: "I think this new material is way thrashier. There's always a tinge of metal to HATEBREED. I think a lot of people try to kind of pigeonhole us as a hardcore band, but I think over the years we've just gone way more metal. There is still the hardcore punk vibe to us, but I think the new stuff is way more metal, thrashy, fast, SLAYER-esque, if I may use that term. That's kind of the direction we're going in right now, but there's still a lot of groove to it. It's definitely the heaviest stuff that we've written to date. I know that can be a cliché thing with bands — 'Watch out, everybody. It's the coolest stuff,' or whatever they say — but it's true. It's true. It really is. So I'm excited for everyone to hear the other stuff too."

Regarding what fans can expect from HATEBREED in 2026, Matt said:  "New record, new music. It's a new era of the band. We've had some lineup changes. We dealt with some curve balls this summer, some health stuff. So we're coming out on top, we're grinding through, we're coming out on top. And, yeah — new production. We're just stepping up the show 100% and just forging onward."

Last October, Byrne told Baby Huey of the San Francisco radio station 107.7 The Bone about HATEBREED's new music: "We just released a single ['Make The Demons Obey'] over the summer. We have a new record that'll be coming out next year — not sure when, but it's about 90 percent, 85 percent done. [We're] still tweaking some stuff, but next year's our target [release]. We released a single, 'Make The Demons Obey'. We've been playing it live. It's very fast. It's heavy. It's HATEBREED. It has HATEBREED all over it. So, it's a lot of fun to play. It's always fun playing the new stuff. We've been playing 'I Will Be Heard' since 2002, so as much as you love that song, it's fun to play newer stuff."

Released in July, "Make The Demons Obey" marked the first taste of new HATEBREED material after the group's "Weight Of The False Self" album which came out in 2020.

"Make the Demons Obey" is everything you know, love, want, and expect from HATEBREED. PMA lyrics, sick riffs, singalongs that will make you bumrush to the front of the stage, and some of the deadliest, most ignorant (in the best possible way!) breakdowns known to man.

"Lots of bands say that their newest release will be their heaviest and I guess we are no different," Jasta stated at the time of the song's release. "We've managed to push the envelope and surpass our expectations. We've become tighter, harder and more vicious than ever. This is the most excited I've been for any HATEBREED release."

"Very exciting things are happening in the HATEBREED camp," added Byrne. "It's time to unleash this beast — new music is here! This is the fastest, most vicious, and most aggressive music we have ever created and I'm pumped for the world to hear it."

When "Make the Demons Obey" was made available, HATEBREED was independent and was still deciding what direction it would like to go regarding a record label. But HATEBREED remained open to all options and ideas. In the interim, they will be releasing singles to keep fans satisfied and will self-fund the upcoming album.

Lozinak returned to the live stage at the Aftershock festival in Sacramento, California in early October 2025. He was diagnosed with a meningioma in the brain while on tour in Europe but thankfully, it was benign. He underwent a craniotomy — a surgical procedure that involves opening the skull to access the brain — on August 4, 2025.

Lozinak has been a key part of HATEBREED's sound since rejoining the band in 2009.

While Lozinak was away, HATEBREED continued its European and American tours, with touring bassist Matt Bachand stepping in on guitar, and Carl Schwartz of FIRST BLOOD and TERROR joining the group on bass duties.

HATEBREED has released eight studio albums and has consistently sold out shows the world over. Over the course of its career, the band has gone from playing basements and backyards to being a featured attraction on countless festivals like Graspop Metal Meeting, Ozzfest, Warped and Download.

To date, HATEBREED has sold over 1.5 million albums in North America alone.

HATEBREED will headline the 2026 edition of the "Summer Slaughter" tour. Support on the trek will come from DEVOURMENT, INCANTATION (for last five dates only),SNUFFED ON SIGHT, BALMORA and FACE YOURSELF.

HATEBREED press photo courtesy of Katy Irizarry / Suspiria PR