On September 28, 2019, a year on from announcing the departure of Demmel and McClain, the band announced Decapitated guitarist Wacław Kiełtyka and Devilment drummer Matt Alston as their replacements. A month later, Machine Head digitally released the stand-alone single "Do or Die". On February 14, 2020, Machine Head released another stand-alone single "Circle the Drain". Four months later, the band put out a dual single known as "Civil Unrest" featuring Jesse Leach of Killswitch Engage on the track "Stop the Bleeding", a song written about the George Floyd protests, while another song on the B-side known as "Bulletproof", was also written about the protests. A music video was eventually released for "Stop the Bleeding" after its release. Five months later another stand-alone single "My Hands Are Empty" was released. In January 2021, Machine Head entered the studio to begin working on their tenth studio album.