Howard Jones and Adam Dutkiewicz are making music together again. The pair, who defined KILLSWITCH ENGAGE's most commercially successful decade, have unveiled a new project called BURN ETERNAL and signed with Metal Blade Records. Their debut album is already recorded, and the label promises the first song "sooner than you'd think."
Both came up in the New England hardcore and metal underground of the 1990s: Jones with BLOOD HAS BEEN SHED, Dutkiewicz with AFTERSHOCK before co-founding KILLSWITCH ENGAGE. Jones fronted KILLSWITCH ENGAGE from 2002 to 2012, the era of The End of Heartache (2004), which earned the band its first GRAMMY nomination and won Best Album at the Metal Hammer Golden Gods, and As Daylight Dies (2006), which went platinum and is still the band's best-selling record. Jones left in 2012, and Jesse Leach returned to the band.
According to Jones, BURN ETERNAL started as an idea over lunch in London and grew into a full album. He describes the project as "such a fun way to reconnect with my friend" and adds: "Burn Eternal lives!"
Dutkiewicz, true to form, keeps it loose. He says he is "wicked excited" to finally share the project, calling the two of them "just two goofballs just dicking around in the studio again," and praises Metal Blade for feeling "like family, not a corporation."
Metal Blade founder and CEO Brian Slagel calls signing the duo "a huge honor" and says that, as a fan of both musicians, he loves the record.
No album title, release date or other lineup details have been announced yet.
Follow BURN ETERNAL: Metal Blade Records