Hatebreed vocalist Jamey Jasta recently stopped by our studio to talk about the band’s newest album, The Concrete Confessional. We got deep into the album’s heavier topics, getting into subjects like the 2016 election, terrorism and political divisiveness.

Hatebreed finished up The Concrete Confessional around the time the 2016 presidential election began getting incredibly bizarre. Politically motivated in his lyrical approach, we wanted to know if Jasta perhaps wished he had waited a little longer to write the album so the weight of this election could have inspired The Concrete Confessional even more.

Jasta also spoke about environmental issues like the current Flint water crisis. “Look what’s happening in Flint. These people should go to jail. Kids are getting sick and dying. That’s the environment, that’s the water. You think that would never [happen in other places]. It could happen in other places, it probably is happening in other places and we’re gonna start seeing it.”

Jamey also spoke about the Paris attacks and the Islamophobia that affects our society. “I go play Muslim countries for so many peaceful, awesome, amazing people that love metal and hardcore music,” Jasta says. “They love it and we want to keep that line of communication open. We want to keep learning about other cultures and being accepting and we want to smash racism and get rid of all this divisiveness that hurts what we’re trying to do.”

Check out our chat with Jamey Jasta in the clip above!