Our Most Anticipated heavy releases of 2017

We can't predict the future, but we can assure you that 2017 will bring plenty of awesome new music. We talked to some of your favorite artists, who are in various stages of the recording process, to get the scoop on what's to come next year. Everything from heavy to pop punk, we'll be spending all week looking ahead at the Most Anticipated Music of 2017. Today we dive in with our Most Anticipated heavy albums.  

Check out our Most Anticipated metal, punk/pop-punk and hardcore albums.

PAPA ROACH / TBA

We spoke to: Jacoby Shaddix (vocals)
EXPECT IT: Early 2017
WHAT'S DIFFERENT: What’s different between now and back in the day? So, our last record, we worked with the Churkos [Kane and Kevin], and pretty much we went in there with no material and did it right on the spot. This time around, we went back after we were on tour. We finished up in Europe and cancelled the rest of our dates because of the terrorist attack over there. We came home and took a little break. Then after that, we were like, “You know what, let’s start writing, let’s start being creative.” We went to our spot in Sacramento and started writing music and shedding wood in there. We were just having fun with it and experimenting. When it came time to decide—when we were going in for the record—we wanted to switch it up. We wanted to work with some new producers. It just seemed like the material we were writing at the time was a little more outside the box. We wanted to work with some up-and-coming [people] who are the fresh, young producers. Me and Louis, our manager, suggested these two guys by the name of RAS and Colin Brittain. We went in, and we did a track with them. We did this track called “My Medication,” and right after we did that, we were like, “Those are the motherfuckers we’ve been looking for.” You know, the new, fresh, different squad who just have a dope perspective on music. RAS comes from the electronic world as well as the pop-punk/rock world. Colin is a rock drummer, so just those two crazy cool and creative individuals, we welcomed them into the P. Roach family, and we went into the studio and finished up this body of work that all of us believe is our best album ever to date. Whatever sells is whatever sells sonically, but message-wise, it gets on a whole other level. I just kind of felt like rock music is starting to sound the same and get a little bit homogenized, and we want to carve our own path. We were considered a nü-metal band back in the day, but we always kind of had our own vibe and our own edge, and we want to maintain that as a band. This record is bold and adventurous, but I believe that it’s all things great about Papa Roach. People want the old school P. Roach sound, but the sound of 2017 is where we’re at now. I’m just so proud and so happy about it.
BIGGEST CHALLENGE IN MAKING THE RECORD: [Laughs.] You know, I’ll just go ahead and leave that unsaid. I guess maybe my biggest challenge personally would be wanting to sing. I just wanted to fucking rap all over this entire record. I was just having so much fun rapping on all these tracks, and then I’d turn around and be like, “Fuck, where’s the melody?” So, we went in, and we wanted to write those big, hooky choruses that we’re known for, but I just wanted to, I don’t know man, sing in the verses like, “Blah, blah, blah.” I hate going in, especially with what I wanted to say on this album. I guess the climate of the world, of what’s going on politically, personally, socially—I couldn’t sing it, man. I had to shout it. I’d say that was my biggest challenge was finding that balance. I think once we did that, once I found that balance, I think that we were off to the races.

IS IT MORE THE CONNECTION or F.E.A.R.? To be honest, the albums that I can compare it to, I would say this album would be, in my mind, kind of like a cross between Infest and Getting Away With Murder. I feel like if we took those two albums and smashed them together, that’s where we’re at now. —Rachel Campbell

WAGE WAR / TBA 

We spoke to: Cody Quistad (guitar/clean vocals)
EXPECT IT: Summer 2017
WHAT'S DIFFERENT: I feel like we really took the time to grow as a band. It’s been a really cool year for us, and having the time to play together a lot really reflects on this album. It’s probably the truest form of a Wage War album to come out. We had a lot more time to make sure these songs were right. Sonically, it’s got a little something for everybody—for the people that like the heavier side of our band, there are some really heavy songs, and for people who like the more melodic side of our band, there are some really melodic songs. I feel like we really pushed the envelope.
BIGGEST CHALLENGE IN MAKING THE RECORD: Probably just picking songs. We had about 18 to 20 ideas going in, and we whittled it down to around 12. So going through all the songs and honing in on the ones we thought were appropriate for the album was our biggest challenge. Everything else was a really smooth process.

IS IT MORE THE FALL OF KINGS (the album they recorded as Empires) OR BLUEPRINTS? It’s more Blueprints, but it’s kind of a thing of its own. It’s hard to describe: It definitely harbors influences more from Blueprints, but we really just took influences from pop music or rap music, hip-hop, R&B and metal, and mashed everything that we love about those genres together in the best way that we could. —Mischa Pearlman

NEXT PAGE: ICE NINE KILLS/A LOT LIKE BIRDS

ICE NINE KILLS / TBA 

We spoke to: Spencer Charnas (vocals)
EXPECT IT: Winter 2017
WHAT'S DIFFERENT: Seeing so many of our fans [with] our lyrics tattooed on them, it made me strive to become a better lyricist, and I want to continue that with the new album. I’ve sort of made a rule that every line has to be “tattooable.”
BIGGEST CHALLENGE IN MAKING THE RECORD: I think that we want to continue to be unpredictable. We did some stuff on the last album that was risky. I’m not sure exactly which risks I want to take [this time], but I want to take them. I want to do everything in our power to separate ourselves from the clichés in our genre. I want to find new ways to do that so when someone puts our record on or hears it coming from another room, they know it’s Ice Nine Kills, not just another heavy band. I want to be a definitive part of the genre.

IS IT MORE THE PREDATOR BECOMES THE PREY OR EVERY TRICK IN THE BOOK? I’m certain that I want to continue to have a clearly defined theme for the next record. I think to follow up this last one—which was based all on literature—with just a collection of unrelated songs would seem a bit crass to me. I want to continue to try and push the boundaries, take risks and delve further into the world of incorporating theater into our music. I would love to include passages of dialogue, and the idea of a real reprise throughout the next album intrigues me. I think the ultimate goal for me would be to eventually make a proper musical out of one of our records, complete with actors and stage design and a live orchestra. —Taylor Markarian

A LOT LIKE BIRDS / TBA 

We spoke to: Cory Lockwood (vocals)
EXPECT IT: Spring 2017
WHAT'S DIFFERENT: Probably the biggest change is vocally, because musically it’s very hard for us to do something that doesn’t sound like A Lot Like Birds, especially with [guitarist] Michael Franzino as the creative force behind a lot of the writing. If you’ve listened to our old records, you’ll know we try to never duplicate what we’ve done before, but the vocals have taken a very different route. There’s minimal screaming—maybe two to three lines—so it’s a lot more mellow sonically, but we’re trying to keep the emotional heaviness and the darkness of our past two albums intact.
BIGGEST CHALLENGE IN MAKING THE RECORD: For me, it was definitely exploring new territory with singing. It wasn’t something I’d ever done. I’d sung a couple lines on former records, but never an entire song, so adjusting to writing lyrics to fit melody was a challenge, and just exploring what my voice was capable of. But it’s also what we were looking forward to going into the album, and we all kind of surprised ourselves with what we created.

IS IT MORE CONVERSATION PIECE OR NO PLACE? I would say more No Place. With that record, we tapped into darker, more emotional songs, and we explored that a little more with this album. There are a couple of songs on Conversation Piece that were in that vein too, so I think going forward we’re probably going to be playing older songs live that fit this new material. —Mischa Pearlman

NEXT PAGE: SILVERSTEIN/BEING AS AN OCEAN