Electronic hardcore pioneers I See Stars announced on July 30 that their new album, The Wheel, is set to be released on Friday, September 12 via Sumerian Records. The band is known for seamlessly fusing vocalist Devin Oliver’s addictive melodies with the futuristic production of electronic soundscapes and crushing riffs. This album will be the first full-length body of work since their 2016 hit album Treehouse. To celebrate the news, the band released a new track called “Eliminator,” and put out a visualizer alongside it. When asked about today’s announcement, I See Stars shared: “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 Wheel is now available for pre-order, along with merchandise and vinyl, on their website.
THE WHEEL
I See Stars
Tracklisting:
1. Spin It
2. THE WHEEL
3. Eliminator
4. D4MAGE DONE
5. FLOAT
6. Drift
7. are we 3ven?
8. Flood Light
9. carry on for you
10. SPLIT
11. Lost It (feat. Palaye Royale)
12. Afterdark
13. Anomaly
14. Curtain Call
I really enjoyed the visualizer and sound of their new single, “Eliminator.” The vocals are harsh and hold the same type of punch that Turnstile – especially their earlier work – has. The visualizer featured surrealistic images like hypnotic spirals and floating eyes in a pixelated style, which I find to make sense and be cohesive with their electronic sound. Unique and exciting music, as such, will keep fans on the edge of their seats in high anticipation for the band’s first full-length album in almost 10 years.
Though it has been almost a decade since I See Stars’ last album, there have been glimpses of new music within the past few years. In 2023, the band released four songs: “Anomaly,” “Drift,” “are we 3ven,” and “D4mage Done,” while in 2024 they put out “Split.” All five of these songs appear on this record, but only reveal a fraction of what the band- these days comprised of Brent Allen (guitar), Andrew Oliver (keyboards/programming), Devin Oliver (clean and unclean vocals), and Jeff Valentine (bass)—has in store. The Wheel, which will be the band’s sixth studio album, is an album in the truest sense of the word. It’s designed to be listened to from front to back, and promises to immerse you in a world if you do. It is a product of a lot of care, attention, and time, some of which was on purpose, and some of which was out of the band’s control.
After releasing and touring Treehouse in 2016, I See Stars started working on the new album, but Covid hit, and they essentially scrapped everything to refine and refocus. Since the pandemic gave them all the time in the world, they took that opportunity to create something that fulfilled their artistic vision and lived up to their expectations. “It gave us the opportunity to take a step back and really dive into what we wanted to actually dig in and write,” says Jeff. “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.”
Because of this, The Wheel is a fully-formed living memory of both eras, and a piece of work that will transport the listener right with the band. “It’s really kind of a special piece,” continues Devin, “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.” Produced by David Bendeth and mostly mixed by Zakk Cervini—though Tom Norris also worked on a couple of tracks —the band’s The Wheel took on a life of its own when they began working on it. The album kicks off with “Spin It,” which is simply the sound of a wheel spinning. This song is not just for aesthetic purposes; it tells a story. Every day in the studio, the band would spin a virtual wheel to determine what song they would work on, but the wheel also added some extra fun to the creative process. “We would throw all the songs onto this website wheel,” remembers Andrew, “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.” “What I really loved about the wheel concept,” adds Devin, “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.”
In addition to purpose and fate, there are other relevant and personal themes on this record. There is yearning laced in “carry on for you,” which is one of the most tragically beautiful songs on the album. It was written after Devin and Andrew lost their uncle to pancreatic cancer, and some of the other songs deal with Devin’s struggle with a condition called intracranial hypertension that’s caused as a result of too much fluid in the brain. “It made me very familiar with the hospital,” says Devin. “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 their almost two-decade-long career, I See Stars has combined everything they’ve worked on so far to make a record that’s visceral, vulnerable, and powerful. After a long, stagnant period, it’s evident that the band has come back rejuvenated, even as the final track “Curtain Call” speeds off into the distance. Devin calls the song a “wheel of emotion” and ends with two questions over and over again: Will you ever love? Will you ever love me?’ “’Curtain Call’ is tapping on every fucking thing we talked about on the whole record in one song,” says Devin. “It’s almost like the wheel spinning in song form—it keeps turning round and is just racing through time and emotions. And the question we ask at the end of the song has a lot to do with the band. Will I ever be enough as an artist? Will the fans ever see us for everything we’ve put into this, which essentially at this point is our entire lives?” If you listen to this record, even just one time, you’ll find that the answer to those two questions is a resounding yes.
Upcoming I See Stars Tour Dates:
10/15/2025 – @ Double Whammy – Auckland, New Zealand
10/17/2025 – @ The Triffid – Newstead, Australia
10/18/2025 – @ The Newcastle Hotel – Islington, Australia
10/21/2025 – @ Crowbar Sydney – Leichhardt, Australia
10/22/2025 – @ Max Watts Melbourne – Melbourne, Australia
10/23/2025 – @ UniBar Adelaide – Adelaide, Australia
10/24/2025 – @ Amplifier Bar – Perth, Australia
10/26/2025 – @ Mr.FOX Live House – Bangkok, Thailand
10/29/2025 – @ Golden Bird’s Event & Coffee – Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam
10/30/2025 – @ Social House Bar and Restaurant – Manila, Philippines
11/1/2025 – @ Imaike 3 Star – Nagoya, Japan
11/2/2025 – @ ??BANGBOO – Osaka, Japan
11/3/2025 – @ Akabane ReNY alpha – Tokyo, Japan
11/4/2025 – @ Akabane ReNY alpha – Tokyo, Japan
11/15/2025 – @ Vans Warped Tour – Orlando, FL*
*Festival Date
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