Year of The Knife share two new songs, provide accident update, reveal new album details

photo credit: Cameron Nunez

Year of The Knife have announced their new album, No Love Lost, is set to be released on October 27th via Pure Noise Records. The album showcases the band’s most refined and intense work yet, featuring nine tracks with a total runtime of just 20 minutes. Produced by Kurt Ballou (known for his work with Nails, The Armed, and Code Orange), No Love Lost presents a colossal fusion of hardcore and death metal influences.

In celebration of the album’s announcement, Year of The Knife has shared two new singles: the 86-second track “Wish” and the 48-second “Last Laugh.” These songs highlight the band’s concise songwriting skills and showcase their relentless aggression. The singles feature guest vocals from Devin Swank of Sanguisugabogg on “Wish” and Dylan Walker of Full of Hell on “Last Laugh.”

In late June, Year of The Knife faced a serious car accident while on tour, resulting in severe injuries for all four band members, especially vocalist Madison Watkins, who suffered multiple broken bones and a traumatic brain injury. Despite these challenges, No Love Lost emanates urgency and resilience, with all album proceeds directed toward supporting the band members’ ongoing recovery efforts.

Bassist (and husband of Madison Watkins) discussed the new album and the months since the accident, saying:

“After three months we’re finally gearing up to go home. We were in a terrible accident in Salt Lake City that left me concussed, Aaron with a broken femur and severed carotid artery, Andy with broken ankles, and Madi breaking almost everything and a traumatic brain injury. It’s been a long, long road but everyday brings new hope. Madi’s currently awake and alert, talking her head off, and doing constant speech, physical and occupational therapy. Like I said, it’s challenging but everyday is better. We’re looking forward to finally going home.

This record represents so many things for us. It’s Madi’s big debut, her second set of recordings and first ever LP singing for YOTK. In my opinion she CRUSHES. It was super hard to come to the decision to release the record while she’s still recovering. The record was originally supposed to start rolling out in July but with everything that happened we thought it best to wait. Now that Madi’s more aware of what’s going on I think she’ll be really excited. And we’re really excited to share this record with all of you. Our influences are all over the place for this record. This was the second time each of us wrote music for the record–like Dust to Dust where we each wrote a song, we all contributed. Madi even wrote a breakdown. It was an awesome experience learning how we each express ourselves musically. This is what I’ve got.”

Drummer Andrew Kisielewski added:

“At the end of June we had arguably the worst thing that can happen to a band happen to us. I sustained two dislocated and fractured ankles, had two surgeries in the span of days, spent over a month in a wheelchair, another challenging month on crutches, and now as of yesterday I’m officially walking completely unassisted. It’s crazy that all of this happened just three months ago, and that glimmer of normality already approaches us all faster than we would ever expect.

Given our current state, it wasn’t easy to make the decision to put out a record. It’s hard to say when we’ll be back in full swing, but for now we couldn’t be more excited to share this with everyone. In approaching writing, it was an unspoken consensus that our new lineup opened the door to evolve our sound even further. The overall dynamic, individual influences, and equal contribution between the four of us birthed something beyond anything we’ve done before. This record is the perfect culmination of us. It’s everything we wanna play, it’s everything we wanna hear, it’s 20 solid minutes of nothing but pure YOTK. To say I love this thing is an understatement, and I hope at least one of you finds a love for it the same way we do.”

Listen to the new songs below and pre-order the album here: