American metalcore veterans As I Lay Dying are officially gearing up for their next full-length record. Vocalist Tim Lambesis and bassist/clean vocalist Chris Clancy recently sat down with Egor Erushin to discuss the band’s future at the start of their 2026 Russian tour—a trek celebrating the 20th anniversary of their milestone album, Shadows Are Security. Notably, the group is one of the few Western acts continuing to play in Russia despite the ongoing international tensions surrounding the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
When asked about the possibility of new album, following the release of their 2025 singles “Echoes” and “If I Fall“, Chris Clancy revealed that the instrumental groundwork is already complete, and the band plans to use their current time on the road to finalize the tracks.
“We’ve got all the songs ready. We’ve got way more songs than we need, and we’ve been whittling through ’em. So we’re gonna sit down while we’re on the road, actually, and kind of do some more development to the songs. And when we get back [home after the tour], we’re gonna really start recording it. So we were gonna start recording it in February, but we thought, well, as we’re all together, we can kind of develop ideas together as a group and go from there. So it’s gonna be a busy tour, for many reasons. But we’ve got a lot of hours when we’re traveling,” he said (as transcribed by Blabbermouth).
Tim Lambesis explained that the band has changed up their traditional songwriting formula for this upcoming project, prioritizing the vocal arrangements before locking in the final instrumentals.
He said: “And we tried a new method here where Chris and I put down our vocal ideas first for the demo. So it’s, like, the vocals are actually done before the instruments at this point. I mean, even though we had the instrumental demo, but then that way we can have a better idea of what songs work.”
As for when fans can expect to hear the final product, Lambesis assured listeners that the album will be the band’s sole focus once the anniversary tour concludes.
“I will say this — as soon as we get home from this tour, it’s our highest priority to focus on that. We cleared everything up so that this is entirely the focus after this.”
Given that the band is currently playing material from Shadows Are Security every night, they were asked if that classic 2005 sound influenced the new material. Lambesis confirmed that at least one new track heavily channels that nostalgic energy, while other songs will push the band into new territory.
“One of the songs I wrote early on in the process that I was sending to Chris, we gave the demo the title of ‘Throwback‘ because it felt very much like it belonged on the Shadows Are Security record. It’s a little bit more maybe pushed in [a] modern [direction] because I think the genre has become more technical at the time. But it fits really well. And we say, ‘Okay, we’ll just have one or two that are like this, and then let’s explore.’ Because [Chris is] writing songs from his perspective, and I’m writing from — I’m, like, the old guy, right? So we can’t expect the two of us to write exactly the same.”
Clancy backed up the frontman’s assessment, noting how powerful that specific demo was upon first listen.
“But I remember when [Tim] sent me that demo and he said, ‘Oh, it might be a bit too old school.’ And I hit play. And it just gave me this [feeling of] nostalgia, like, ‘I haven’t heard anything like this in 20 years.’ It just had this whole thing — it captured you. And this makes no sense at all without hearing the song, but you didn’t really think about it as a single and doing this, that and the other. It’s, like, he just wrote the song as it wanted to be, and it was great.”
The upcoming record will be the first full-length album to feature the band’s revamped roster, which made its official debut on the singles “Echoes” and “If I Fall“. The current lineup features a mix of veteran talent and fresh blood:
- Tim Lambesis – Vocals
- Chris Clancy – Bass, Clean Vocals
- Bill Hudson – Guitar
- Don Vedda – Guitar
- Tim Yeung – Drums
As I Lay Dying 2026 Russian Tour Dates:
- March 07 – Kazan, RUS – Korston Club
- March 08 – Nizhny Novgorod, RUS – Milo Concert Hall
- March 10 – Samara, RUS – Metelica C
- March 12 – Ufa, RUS – Ogni Ufy
- March 14 – Chelyabinsk, RUS – MTS Live Hall
- March 16 – Novosibirsk, RUS – Ice Sports Palace Sibir
- March 18 – Irkutsk, RUS – Concert Hall
- March 20 – Vladivostok, RUS – Fetisov Arena
