After nearly a decade since their last full-length, electronicore trailblazers I See Stars have emerged with their sixth studio album, THE WHEEL, via Sumerian Records. The release marks a long-awaited return for the Michigan-based quartet, who have been quietly shaping their sound behind the scenes, teasing new material with a series of singles before dropping the full, immersive album.
To celebrate the arrival of THE WHEEL, the band has unveiled the official music video for the poignant and deeply personal track “carry on for you”. It’s a cinematic journey that underscores the album’s central themes: loss, resilience, and the unrelenting push of fate-a motif the band embraced both conceptually and sonically throughout the making of this record.
“The last time we spent this much time on a record was our debut album, ‘3D’,” says the band. “‘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. We truly poured everything into it & we are so excited to finally share it with our fans.”
For fans of I See Stars, the wait has been long but intentional. Their 2016 album Treehouse earned them acclaim for blending crushing metalcore with shimmering electronic production-a formula that became their signature. In the years since, the band released a handful of singles: “Anomaly,” “Drift,” “are we 3ven,” and “D4MAGE DONE” in 2023, and “SPLIT” in 2024. Each song offered a glimpse into the band’s evolving sound but hinted at only a fraction of the world THE WHEEL inhabits.
Today, the lineup remains Brent Allen (guitar), Andrew Oliver (keyboards/programming), Devin Oliver (clean and unclean vocals), and Jeff Valentine (bass), a quartet that has honed its craft over almost two decades. Their aim with THE WHEEL was to craft an album that demanded full attention, meant to be experienced from start to finish-a living narrative of their lives and struggles over the past seven years.
The pandemic gave the band an unexpected gift: time. Initial sessions for a follow-up to Treehouse were scrapped in favor of starting fresh, allowing the band to refine their artistic vision without compromise. “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.”
The album’s title, THE WHEEL, is more than metaphorical. In the studio, the band used a digital spinning wheel to determine which track they would work on each day-a playful yet symbolic ritual that became central to the album’s philosophy. “Whatever the wheel told us to do, we’d do,” recalls Andrew. “It started as a joke, but turned into this thing that became really important for us.” Devin adds, “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.”
Produced by David Bendeth and mixed primarily by Zakk Cervini, with Tom Norris contributing to a few tracks, the record is a balance of technical precision and emotional rawness. The opener, “Spin It,” literally begins with a wheel spinning, setting the tone for a record about destiny, struggle, and the relentless turn of life’s cycles.
Tracks like “carry on for you” reflect deeply personal experiences, including the loss of Devin and Andrew Oliver’s uncle to pancreatic cancer, as well as Devin’s battle with intracranial hypertension. “A lot of this record is about that period in my life,” he admits. “I talk about it through our music-my traumas come out through artistic expression. Listening to it now gets emotional because I’m not in the same place I once was.”
The album closes with “Curtain Call”, which Devin calls “a wheel of emotion”. The track spins through the questions of self-worth and artistic validation that have defined the band’s career: “Will I ever be enough as an artist? Will the fans ever see us for everything we’ve put into this?” After one listen, the answer rings loud and clear: yes.
For Australian fans, I See Stars are returning for the first time in 14 years, bringing their revitalized energy to stages across the country this October:
DESTROY ALL LINES PRESENTS: I SEE STARS – AUSTRALIAN HEADLINE TOUR
Fri 17 Oct – The Triffid, Brisbane
Sat 18 Oct – Newcastle Hotel, Newcastle
Tue 21 Oct – Crowbar, Sydney
Wed 22 Oct – Max Watts, Melbourne
Thu 23 Oct – Unibar, Adelaide
Fri 24 Oct – Amplifier Bar, Perth – SOLD OUT
Tickets are on sale now.
