Their current lineup includes vocalist Eric "A.K" Knutson, guitarists Michael Gilbert and Steve Conley, bassist Bill Bodily, and drummer Ken Mary.

They are also notable for featuring a then-unknown Jason Newsted, who was Flotsam and Jetsam's bassist from 1981 to 1986, when he left the band shortly after the release of their debut album to join Metallica.

Despite not achieving similar levels of commercial success as some of their thrash metal contemporaries, the band emerged as part of the second wave of the genre in the mid-to-late 1980s (along with Sepultura, Testament and Death Angel),[1][2][3][4][5][6] and has enjoyed some moderate success in the United States, with two of their albums (1988's No Place for Disgrace and 1990's When the Storm Comes Down) entering the Billboard 200 chart,[7] and their fourth album Cuatro (1992) cracking the top 30 on the Heatseekers chart.

[8] The group was founded in 1981 under the name Paradox by drummer Kelly David-Smith and guitarists Pete Mello and Dave Goulder, who were later joined by bassist Jason Newsted.

David-Smith got a call from a couple of his high school friends, Mark Vasquez and Kevin Horton, looking for some people to jam with playing covers of bands such as Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, MSG, and UFO.

They created their first video "Hammerhead" from the Metal Shock demo: "We taped it in Jason and Ed's apartment living room.

[9] Flotsam and Jetsam recorded their debut album Doomsday for the Deceiver[9] in Los Angeles, with producer Brian Slagel and engineer Bill Metoyer.

Newsted, who was also the band's main lyric writer, departed soon after to join Metallica,[9] replacing their bassist Cliff Burton, who died in a bus accident.

Flotsam and Jetsam signed a deal with Metallica's then-label Elektra Records before opening for Megadeth in 1987 on the Peace Sells tour in Europe and North America.

After touring with Megadeth, the band played selected shows in America with Slayer, Dark Angel, Possessed, Celtic Frost, Sacred Reich and Excel.

[9] Their second studio album, No Place for Disgrace, was released in May 1988, and includes a cover of Elton John's hit "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting",[9] for which a music video was shot.

[13] Musically and lyrically, When the Storm Comes Down marked the beginning of at least two changes for Flotsam and Jetsam: it mirrored much of the occult and dark themes evidenced in the lyrical content of their previous two albums, instead focusing on politics and society in general, and saw the band expanding their thrash roots and using elements of the progressive and technical style of their later albums.

[9] It marked an evolution in style and songwriting, moving from thrash to a slower, slightly more, melodic sound, while also continuing the progressive and technical song structures used on When the Storm Comes Down.

The band released four singles this time, two of which ("Swatting at Flies" and "Wading Through the Darkness") were shot as music videos and both received regular rotation on Headbangers Ball.

However, with Headbangers Ball already off the air in the U.S., and many heavy metal radio stations changing formats, Drift did not sell as well as the band's previous albums, and about the same time they toured the U.S. with Megadeth and Korn during the summer of 1995, MCA's six-year relationship with Flotsam and Jetsam had ended.

[15] After taking a break in most of 1996 and resigning from MCA to Metal Blade, Flotsam and Jetsam resurfaced in 1997 with their sixth album High.

[9] The album's song titles were designed with the font types/logos of famous bands like Iron Maiden, Metallica, Kiss, Van Halen, AC/DC, Judas Priest, Misfits, etc.

joining the band again officially, they hit the road with Overkill and Death Angel for a series of sold-out concerts in Japan.

[17] This set (two CDs and one DVD) includes the original recording of Doomsday and a re-mixed and re-mastered(Digitized)version and also the two Flotsam and Jetsam demos.

The bonus DVD includes rare live material, an interview filmed at David-Smith's High School and a photo slide-show.

On September 19, 2011, Flotsam and Jetsam announced they had parted ways with Craig Nielson and reunited with founding drummer David-Smith.

[27] On July 6, 2017, it was announced that Flotsam and Jetsam were replacing Bittner (who had just joined Overkill) with Ken Mary (Fifth Angel, Alice Cooper, House of Lords, TKO, Chastain, Impellitteri),[28] and that they had begun working on their thirteenth studio album The End of Chaos, which was initially reported to be released in November 2018;[29][30] however, the album's release date was pushed back to January 18, 2019.

[31] In support of The End of Chaos, Flotsam and Jetsam (along with Destruction and Meshiaak) opened for Overkill on the European Killfest Tour in March 2019.

[32] A headlining US tour, titled Demolition of North America, was scheduled to take place in the spring of 2020, but it was postponed and then cancelled, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Knutson stated in an interview with Jesse Capps of Loudist that Flotsam and Jetsam would "probably start writing and recording" a follow-up album in November 2019.

[35] On November 13, 2020, the band announced Bill Bodily had replaced Michael Spencer as their new bassist, and that the final mixes for their upcoming album were almost finished.

[36] On April 1, 2021, Flotsam and Jetsam announced Blood in the Water as the title of their fourteenth studio album and June 4 as its release date.