Wheel announce new album ‘Charismatic Leaders’

March 2, 2024 James Weaver

WHEEL have announced a new album!

Titled Charismatic Leaders, the upcoming album from the Anglo-Finnish progressive metal band is the follow-up to 2021’s Resident Human, and is scheduled to be released in May this year, via InsideOut Music.

The album was meticulously crafted to meet WHEEL’s ever-heightening benchmarks and recording with engineers/co-producers Daniel Bergstrand and Fredrik Thordendal [MESHUGGAH] stretched from August to December 2023.

Alongside the announcement of the new album, WHEEL have released a new music video for a new song lifted from the upcoming album; Empire.

Speaking about the new song, vocalist/guitarist James Lascelles says, “this is probably the most metal song I have ever written – it is intense as all hell when it kicks in and it keeps finding new ways to punch you in the face all the way to the end! Santeri did an incredible job with the drum track on this one and playing it live is really going to take some work in the rehearsal room..

Lyrically, it is about media empires and the effect they have on wider society – all of us are influenced to some degree, even if we would rather not admit it. Issues that require nuance are presented as binaries and opposing views are made into caricatures – a target for us to rage at that far too often, doesn’t even exist. This is not a new phenomenon by any means but it is one that seems to have been catalysed by the modern landscape of media, the internet and populist politics. As you might be able to tell from the mood of the song, this pisses me off immensely and it was cathartic to vent about it.”

Watch the official music video for Empire here: