I SEE STARS Announce New Album ‘THE WHEEL’, Return with “Eliminator”

I See Stars are officially back. The pioneering PNW electronicore outfit will release their long-awaited new album THE WHEEL on September 12th via Sumerian Records. The 14-track effort marks their first full-length release since 2016’s Treehouse and reflects nearly a decade of artistic evolution, self-discovery, and survival.

Bassist Jeff Valentine spoke on how the band’s creative process was reset during the pandemic:

“It gave us the opportunity to take a step back and really dive into what we wanted to actually dig in and write. Not that what was done before was bad, but this gave the four of us an opportunity to sit in a room with each other and just write.”

Vocalist Devin Oliver added:

“It’s really kind of a special piece and you feel that in the journey when you’re listening to the album front to back. You feel us swimming in the mystery of what life was doing and where it was taking us.”

THE WHEEL was produced by David Bendeth (Breaking Benjamin, Paramore), primarily mixed by Zakk Cervini (Spiritbox, Papa Roach), with additional mixing from GRAMMY-winner Tom Norris (Lady Gaga, Lil Tecca). The record showcases a refined and fearless evolution of the band’s sound, one shaped by years of personal and professional transformation.

Part of that journey involved embracing a literal wheel of fate. According to keyboardist/programmer Andrew Oliver, the band used a digital wheel to determine their creative direction each day:

“We would throw all the songs onto this website wheel as well as some dumb, totally not creative thing in there that would like sidetrack us—but purposefully. It was this comedic approach that we were taking every day, where whatever the wheel told us to do, we’d do. It had these zany sound effects, but also created this weird vibe where we were like ‘We’ve just got to trust fate here.’ We’re all obsessed with fate and letting things happen as they might, so the sound effect was an obvious thing for us to include—and then it took shape into a much larger concept.”

Devin further explained the significance of that approach:

“What I really loved about the wheel concept was it wasn’t our choice. It was our choice to leave it to chance, yes, but we trusted the universe to point us in the right direction by spinning the wheel. It started off as a joke, but turned into this thing that became really important for us.”

Deep personal struggles also fed into the album’s emotional core, including the death of Devin and Andrew’s uncle and Devin’s health battles with intracranial hypertension:

“It made me very familiar with the hospital. I was hospitalized for months on end and that lasted for about two years of my life. So a lot of this record is about that. I don’t deal with the chronic pain that I had from that anymore, and some would say the condition is in remission, but it’s really hard for me to listen to some of these songs—truly—because there were a lot of moments writing this record where I didn’t want to be alive. That’s really hard for me to admit, because I’m not that person who talks about this stuff openly. I talk about it through our music—my traumas come out through my artistic expression. So listening to the record really gets emotional for me, because I’m not in the same place I once was. I’m super grateful to not be in all that pain.”

In a joint statement, the band summarized the magnitude of the album:

“The last time we spent this much time on a record was our debut album, ‘3D’. THE WHEEL is a time capsule capturing the past seven years of our lives. It’s a culmination of everything we’ve experienced individually, together, and as human beings navigating the chaos of the world. While we don’t plan to wait this long before releasing another album, we’re deeply grateful for the time it took to make this one. We poured ourselves into it, and we hope our fans feel that. We’re proud to finally share THE WHEEL with you.”

The band’s latest single “Eliminator” is out now and joins previously released tracks “DAMAGE DONE”, “Drift”, “are we 3ver?”, “SPLIT”, and “Anomaly” on the new record.

THE WHEEL track listing:

01 – “Spin It”
02 – “THE WHEEL”
03 – “Eliminator”
04 – “D4MAGE DONE”
05 – “FLOAT”
06 – “Drift”
07 – “are we 3ven?”
08 – “Flood Light”
09 – “carry on for you”
10 – “SPLIT”
11 – “Lost It” (feat. Palaye Royale)
12 – “Afterdark”
13 – “Anomaly”
14 – “Curtain Call”

Pre-order THE WHEEL here.

---

Do you love independent bands, or are you in one? The Mosh Network is not just a rock/metal news website, but it doubles as an independent band directory, designed so that visitors can browse independent bands by not just subgenre, but location as well. It’s perfect to keep your finger on the pulse of your area’s hottest and newest bands or if you’re in a band, it’s a great way to find bands to network with! Click the banner below and start discovering bands all over the world, now!