In a new interview with the Vulgar Display Of Podcast, MISS MAY I frontman Levi Benton spoke about the band’s upcoming follow-up to 2022’s “Curse Of Existence” album. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “Well, the funny thing is we have taken two years doing this album, just ’cause our schedules are crazy. And since it’s a new lineup, we’re making sure it’s perfect. So it’s taking a long time. I have five more songs of vocals to do. That’s why I’m going in a couple weeks to finish it. So the album’s not done yet, so until it’s done, we don’t really have a date, but because we have a lot of singles and a lot of stuff… We have the art and everything ready, so I think we’re gonna start rolling it out sort of with no end date.”

He continued: “It’s gonna be a little experiment for us. But it’s been fun because I think our fans will like it. Yeah, we’re just not gonna approach it normally of, like, ‘Hey, here’s the pre-order. Here’s two music videos from the album.’ Since we’ve worked so hard on it, we’re gonna really try to make each song special and just really work on it. And [the recently released new single] ‘Pray For Silence’ is as light as the album gets. So I try to tell everybody, like, that’s the ballad of the album.”

Referencing the fact that founding MISS MAY I guitarists B.J. Stead and Justin Aufdemkampe left the band in 2024 and guitarist Elisha Mullins was welcomed into the MISS MAY I family in their place, Benton stated about the group’s mindset while writing “Pray For Silence”: “We knew the lineup was changing, we knew we were doing everything, but it was sort of traumatizing to us, ’cause, obviously, we didn’t want the original lineup to change. So that whole thing was just sort of a mess. And Elisha was amazing. He was a fill-in before he became part of the band. And we [went] into the studio and then we worked with Elisha for the first time and we were dumbfounded, because we’ve been with the original lineup since high school. And B.J. and Justin, the original guitar players, always started the songs. So we got into a room, and he’s, like, ‘Okay, where do we go?’ And we’re, like, ‘Oh, shoot. Those guys aren’t here.’ We’re, like, ‘We don’t even know where to start.’ Which was cool, ’cause Elisha was that for all his projects. And being from Missouri and the same age, we’re all cut from the same cloth, which was really cool, ’cause we had the same upbringing and same inspiration, just 500 miles over. So we were doing the same thing just east, which was cool. And then now being a four-piece, and writing with Elisha and not having a full five-piece — and I think people can really tell in ‘Pray For Silence’ and we lean into it more in further songs. But we’d sort of take rhythm out, the rhythm guitar, and we’re playing with soundscapes because we’re a four-piece, but we’ve never got to play with those sounds. So that’s why there’s a lot of crazy sounds that we were screwing around with, because we’re down a person. But we didn’t wanna just have a guitar playing on a speaker somewhere, so we’ve been playing with a lot of sounds. And I think not only ‘Pray For Silence’, but it gets crazier further in the album of just crazy soundscapes that we’re doing. And that’s new for MISS MAY I. So that’s why I think it sort of sounds like old MISS MAY I, but the new thing — if somebody’s really paying attention, dissecting it, we’ve never had soundscapes until now. Which is so fun, to open up a keyboard and just, like, have 3,000 sounds to be, like, ‘Okay, guys, let’s figure out what the rhythm’s gonna sound like.'”

Benton went on to say that “the secret member” of MISS MAY I “that’s behind the scenes that I guess only diehards or people looking at the credits will see is, we’ve had this guy Nick Sampson, who’s sort of been with us since our second album. He was like a young padawan to Joey Sturgis, engineering on when we did ‘Monument’ at Joey’s house,” he explained. “And then he’s worked on all our albums since. And he does POLYPHIA, he was in I AM ABOMINATION. He’s like a guitar shredder, and he’s up in Michigan. So he actually comes to Cape Girardeau and he’s like our consistent piece instrumentally, on guitar from second album on. So he’s sort of like our judge, like, ‘No, we wouldn’t do that.’ Or ‘this is that or ‘let’s do that.’ So he’s like our boundary to keep it consistent, which has been great.”

Last year, MISS MAY I joined the Solid State Records roster and released “Apologies Are For The Weak (Re-Recorded 15th Anniversary Edition)”, the awesomely ambitious 15th-anniversary edition of the band’s classic, beloved debut album “Apologies Are For The Weak”. The LP was entirely re-recorded and featured cameos on every single song, including from Jake Luhrs of AUGUST BURNS RED, Brandan Schieppati of BLEEDING THROUGH and Scott Lewis of CARNIFEX. Asked what MISS MAY I’s relationship with Solid State is like, Levi said: “It’s unreal. I wish I started a band like this 15 years ago. Not that everyone’s always cracking the whip, but we were just so busy all the time and there was such hard deadlines all the time, which I get, but it’s also, like, who knows if that’s gonna be the best album? Or who knows if you worked hard enough? And when we were shopping around and we had kids and we were parents, we talked to all the labels and a bunch of managers too; our management team changed at the same time. ‘Cause we’re just a different band. We are doing things on our own time. We’re not just a poster boy metal band that they could just throw out there anymore, ’cause we don’t say ‘yes’ all the time, as much as we used to. And they’re still totally cool with it. It’s so weird to get off a call and they’re just, like, ‘Take your time. It’ll be done when it’s done.’ And I’m, like, ‘I don’t understand.’ I’m, like, ‘That’s crazy.’ And they’re, like, ‘Turn it in when you guys are ready.’ And I’m, like, ‘This is so nice.’ We’ve always been, and I think you guys have probably seen it a million times in band interviews, but it’s always the vocalist’s last day, like, ‘Yeah, I had to finish three songs before the next band was coming in, ’cause that was the last day of the studio.’ I’m, like, we’ve always done albums like that, and this is just, like, ‘Hmm, I could do better. I’ll go back in in a month and do different lyrics and try to make it perfect.’ ‘Cause we know we wanna sit on this one and really make it… I think it’s a pivot point for our career. When it comes out, it’s gonna be different. I think it’s gonna be really awesome.”

When it was first released in August, “Pray For Silence” was described in a press release as “a vocally dynamic anthem, with a chorus that will instantly embed in your brain, heavy artillery riffing, and floor-shaking breakdowns. It’s ultimately classic metalcore that swells with modern flourishes, ushering MISS MAY I into their next exciting era.”

Benton previously told Rolling Stone Australia about Mullins: “He comes from being a producer. All this new music we’re doing, it’s stuff we’ve never had before, because we’ve never written with someone like this.”

On a personal level, Benton said Mullins and the rest of MISS MAY I are “all cut from the same cloth. Elisha’s from the Midwest, he’s the same age [as us]. We listen to the same local bands. It’s a natural fit. It’s very cool.”

Regarding what it was like working on new MISS MAY I material without their main songwriters, Benton said: “The funny thing was, it was a total lost thought. We weren’t even thinking about it. We went into the studio and the rest of the guys were, like, ‘Oh my God. Justin and B.J. were the main writers — we’ve got to change something up.’ We went back to the drawing board, and that’s when the anxiety hit. After years of touring, we didn’t even think about writing [like that]. We spent a whole month with Elisha in the studio, just doing one song to get the vibe of how we write together. It was a mock-up of sorts, just a practice run; we ironed everything out.”

Image credit: Rock & Metal From The Front Row