KILLSWITCH ENGAGE vocalist Jesse Leach says the metalcore mainstays are weighing a future built around singles rather than traditional albums — a concession, he admits, to how people consume music in 2026. Speaking with Baby Huey of 107.7 The Bone on June 25, Leach said the band is keeping its options open.
"I think you have to move with the times," Leach explained. "I think the algorithm that digital media is in is now favoring singles." For the singer, though, format is secondary to substance: "If it's good, it's good. Who cares?"
The comments arrive on the heels of "This Consequence," the band's ninth album and Leach's sixth behind the mic, released in February 2025 via METAL BLADE RECORDS. The record's single "I Believe" climbed into the Top 10, and the band has since graced the covers of Revolver and Outburn.
KILLSWITCH ENGAGE spent the back half of 2025 on the co-headlining "Summer Of Loud" tour and are currently out on a U.S. run with a stacked supporting bill of MACHINE HEAD, IRON REAGAN and HAVOK.
Leach's openness to the singles model reflects a broader shift across heavy music, where streaming economics increasingly reward a steady drip of tracks over the long wait between full-lengths. Few bands have weathered those shifts as steadily as KILLSWITCH ENGAGE, who have remained a metalcore standard-bearer for more than two decades across two stints with Leach behind the mic. Whether they fully embrace the singles approach remains to be seen, but Leach made clear the band won't sacrifice quality to chase the algorithm: the songs, he insists, have to earn their place regardless of how they're packaged.