Abandon the Band Share "Jazzland" With Killswitch Engage's Jesse Leach

By Dani Reyes, November 14, 2026

Abandon the Band, the project of Bay Area metal drummer Todd Sipes, has released "Jazzland" featuring Jesse Leach of Killswitch Engage, with a video. The single is out November 12, 2026, and runs 3:49.

Abandon the Band, "Jazzland" featuring Jesse Leach (music video, Abandon The Band)

The park behind the song

The song is named for the theme park that opened in eastern New Orleans in 2000 and later ran as Six Flags New Orleans. Per Atom Splitter PR, it sold its last ticket on August 21, 2005, eight days before Hurricane Katrina, stood derelict for nearly 20 years, and finished demolition in March 2026. The release says the video was shot inside the ruins.

Ten places, ten singers

"Jazzland" leads the debut album 'Tis a Fearful Thing to Love What Death Can Touch, which the label lists for February 26. Each of its 10 songs is dedicated to an abandoned place in the United States, and each features a different vocalist, including Jonny Santos of Spineshank and Jonah Matranga of Far. Rich Gray of Annihilator plays bass on three tracks, and Josh Williams plays guitar throughout.

Sipes wrote all 10 songs, played every drum part and took every photograph, drawing on 15 years as an urban-exploration photographer. "I'd been photographing these places for more than a decade before it occurred to me that a photograph is a silent object," Sipes says in the release. "These songs are my attempt at the part the camera couldn't get."

The release notes that several of the album's sites are dangerous or illegal to enter.

For more modern metalcore, see Burn Eternal's debut album news, or browse the rock desk.

My read

A concept record about ruins could easily turn into a gimmick, but tying each song to a photograph Sipes actually took gives it a spine. Leach is a smart first voice to put in front of it.

Dani Reyes, Behind the Boards. Credits check: Jesse Leach on "Jazzland."