Anglo-Finnish progressive metallers Wheel previously announced their third studio album Charismatic Leaders, which arrives on May 3.
Today, they launch the second single — the dynamic and expansive "Porcelain." Listen here. Watch the visualizer below.
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. Watch it here.
Charismatic Leaders 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 Lascelles, lead guitarist Jussi Turunen and drummer Santeri Saksala's third album represents their heaviest and most conscious music to date.
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-orders are live here.
Wheel will be celebrating the release of their new album with their first ever shows in Australia, supporting labelmates Caligula's Horse, as well as their first ever North American headline shows:
WHEEL U.S. TOUR DATES:
5/2 — Orlando, FL — Conduit
5/5 — Philadelphia, PA — The Foundry
5/6 — Vienna, VA — Jammin Lava
5/7 — New York, NY — Mercury Lounge
5/8 — Boston, MA — Brighton Music Hall
5/9 — Montreal, QC — Petit Campus
5/10 — Toronto, ON — Adelaide Hall
5/12 — Chicago, IL — Beat Kitchen
5/13 — Minneapolis, MN — 7th St. Entry
5/16 — Denver, CO — Moe's
5/19 — Phoenix, AZ — Underground
5/20 — San Diego, CA — Brick by Brick
5/21 — Los Angeles, CA — 1720
5/22 — Berkeley, CA — Cornerstone
5/23 — Sacramento, CA — Goldfield Trading Post
5/25 — Seattle, WA — Barboza