KILLSWITCH ENGAGE's JUSTIN FOLEY Says Touring With IRON MAIDEN Was 'Really Inspiring'

Jimmy Kay of The Metal Voice conducted an interview with drummer Justin Foley of Massachusetts metallers KILLSWITCH ENGAGE at this year's Heavy Montreal festival. You can watch the entire chat below. A few excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On KILLSWITCH ENGAGE's forthcoming studio album, "Atonement":

Justin: "The songs are different. [Laughs] I don't know how to describe it. It still sounds like us as a band, but there are things we haven't really had on other records. There are a couple of songs that are kind of us pushing, just sort of what we do a little bit, in each direction. It's hard to describe. It's nothing drastic. We didn't all of the sudden turn into a prog metal band or a blistering death metal band or anything. It sounds like us. There's some stuff that's different. Hopefully people that have been a fan of us will appreciate it and not think it sounds like the same record over and over again."

On TESTAMENT vocalist Chuck Billy's guest appearance on new song "The Crownless King":

Justin: "It came out great. It came out awesome. His voice, when we had that song finished, I think it was Joel [Stroetzel, guitar] that suggested, 'Wow, Chuck Billy would really sound awesome over this.' We had done a tour with them years ago when we also did a tour — I think it was with ANTHRAX; I can't honestly remember. They were on the tour, so we know them. We sent him the song and we didn't hear anything initially. Then this one day, he e-mailed us back, him tracking vocals on all of it. We all heard it and went, 'Oh, yeah! That's perfect. That's awesome.' He absolutely crushed it. As soon as I heard it, it immediately jumped to my favorite song on this record, so really cool."

On former KILLSWITCH ENGAGE vocalist Howard Jones's appearance on new song "Signal Fire":

Justin: "It was great. We had run into him recently at a couple of shows and hung out. He's doing awesome. Right away, Jesse [Leach, vocals] was like, 'We should totally have him sing on this next record.' He crushed it. He sounded really, really good on the track, as always. His voice was always fantastic. It kind of gave the song just another little boost. It's kind of a fast song anyway. It was cool to have their two voices together, like to kind of… they're singing the chorus together, they're harmonizing together. It sounds really good. I'm stoked for people to hear it."

On what KILLSWITCH ENGAGE learned from touring with IRON MAIDEN:

Justin: "The first week or so, it was pretty much just that — just being in awe. Then when you could just step back from it, then, 'Okay, this is a tour now.' Then seeing them play, to be doing that as long as they're doing it and to have the dedication and incredible show they put on every single night is really inspiring. It kind of shows what it is to be at the highest level."

"Atonement" will be released on August 16 via Metal Blade Records in the U.S. and Sony Music Entertainment in the rest of the world. The cover was created by U.K.-based artist Richey Beckett (METALLICA, MASTODON),with bassist Mike D'Antonio handling art direction and layout duties.