On 7 October 2011, RCA Music Group announced it was disbanding Jive Records along with Arista Records and J Records. With the shutdown, the band (and all other artists previously signed to these three labels) will release their future material (including their next studio album) on the RCA Records brand. Also in October, frontman Matt Tuck announced that he will be working on a new side project which he has described as "metal as fuck", influenced by bands such as Pantera and Slipknot. On 1 May 2012 it was revealed that the project would be called AxeWound, and featured Liam Cormier (Cancer Bats), Mike Kingswood (Glamour of the Kill), Joe Copcutt (Rise to Remain), and Jason Bowld (Pitchshifter). In May 2012, it was announced that Bullet for My Valentine would be playing at the South African music festival Oppikoppi, as well as a once-off gig in Cape Town alongside Seether and Enter Shikari. They were slated to play in the country for the Coke Zero Fest of 2009, but pulled out at the last minute to record Fever. It was confirmed on 6 August 2012 that the final recording session of the band's fourth studio record was complete, and that the album would be out sometime in late 2012. Later that month on the 17th, the second line-up for the Australian music festival Soundwave was announced, containing Bullet for My Valentine.
