Anglo-Finnish progressive metallers Wheel previously announced their third studio album Charismatic Leaders, which arrives on May 3. Today they have launched the album’s second single “Porcelain”.

Vocalist and guitarist James Lascelles comments, "'Porcelain' ended up being about social norms and how the values of the past seem abhorrent by modern standards. In turn, our current values will likely be seen as primitive, careless or even cruel in the future. I think we would all like to imagine that if we had been born long ago, we would have the same world view that we do now but this would likely not be the case. We are all shaped by our surroundings and social conformity, probably more than we would like to admit. It was a humbling topic to dig in to and the more I thought about it, the more empathy I was able to find for our ancestors."

The album's first single "Empire" was released last month, and the video currently has over 220k views.

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. The end result, mixed by Forrester Savell, has consolidated all the gains of what came before: singer/guitarist James Lascelles, lead guitarist Jussi Turunen and drummer Santeri Saksala’s third album represents their heaviest and most conscious music to date.

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.”

Charismatic Leaders clocks in at just under 50 minutes, and will be available as a Limited CD Digipak (also featuring the Rumination EP tracks as bonus), and a Gatefold 180g LP, both featuring artwork from Lucas Mayer (Long Distance Calling, Blackout Problems). Pre-order your copy here.

Tracklisting:

"Empire"
"Porcelain"
"Submission"
"Saboteur"
"Disciple"
"Caught in the Afterglow"
"The Freeze"

"Porcelain" visualizer:

"Empire" video:

The band will be celebrating the release of their new album with their first ever shows in Australia (supporting label-mates Caligula’s Horse), as well as their first ever North American headline shows. Later in the year the band will return to Europe for further headline dates, which have just been announced. Find the band's live itinerary here.

(Photo - Anastasia Korol)