Bullet for My Valentine are hard at work on their fifth album, the follow-up to 2013's Temper Temper. But they will have to finish the recording process without founding bassist Jason "Jay" James.
The band parted ways with the 34-year-old this weekend.
"Jay has been a part of this band for well over 12 years and part of our lives forever, and we're gonna miss him as much as we know you guys are, too," a statement from the group read, via Blabbermouth. "We wanna wish him all the best and success with whatever he chooses to do next and will always be grateful for his contribution and sacrifices he made for this band.
"We'll announce a replacement for Jay when we feel the time is right, but until then we're gonna be busy and focused recording our next record and making sure it's the best album we've ever made."
Temper Temper reached No. 13 on the Billboard 200 following its release, but failed to sell nearly as many albums as its predecessors. The group is bringing back Colin Richardson as executive producer, hoping he can lend the same magic he brought to BFMV's first two albums.
"It's definitely more of a step towards our first two records," drummer Michael "Moose" Thomas told Billboard. "We always like to keep changing our records and our sounds and stuff. I think you have to change, otherwise it gets boring for us and the fans get bored. Look at all the great bands through rock history; they changed on all their albums -- especially Metallica. Their albums have always changed, and they're the biggest metal band ever. So we just want to keep changing and get to another level each time out."
Check out the group's 2014 single "Raising Hell" below and comment below on James leaving:
