Start Your Countdown Until You Bear Witness to I Prevail's HEAVY True Power...

Can you believe it's finally the eve of I Prevail releasing their highly anticipated third studio album True Power? During the pandemic, the boys knuckled down and got stuck into creating a record that is going to be spoken about for years to come - because they've taken what you think you know about them, and flipped that concept on its head.

True Power finds I Prevail at the crossroads many metalcore bands come to around the time of their third release - do they continue honing in on the melodically driven (and easily accessible) tracks, or do they go full pedal to the metal and blow expectations out of the water with arguably their heaviest album to date? The latter is what you're in for when this record drops tomorrow!

You're probably wondering where our interview with vocalist Eric Vanlerberghe and guitarist/bassist Steve Menoian is... and while good things come to those who wait (trust us, more on that soon), we did speak to the boys on the side of that project about the process behind going harder for True Power and they were more than happy to elaborate with us.

[caption id="attachment_142523" align="aligncenter" width="665"] Steve Menoian and Eric Vanlerberghe discussing their True Power with Ebony Story - Wall of Sound TV sneak peek[/caption]

Firstly, Steve Menoian really shines on this release as the band focuses attention on their instrumental delivery by including more guitar-focused belters and plenty of guitar solos for Steve to have his spot in the limelight. When we quizzed him about this direction in the studio, he explained it was all part of the process in trying to keep their fans guessing what they'll do next:

"Yeah, I think so. Yeah, we definitely were just drawn to way more of, just like rock and roll vibes on this record and I think part of that was like bucking expectation, but it's also part of just what we were drawn to at the time. So I feel like we wanted to always have this record, kind of, keeping you guessing and not feeling like you could ever really predict what's coming in a lot of spots. And I feel that just was kind of the natural songwriting evolution that we were drawn to [on] this record and yeah, I think it's a cool blend of styles for what we were able to create."

"With True Power, we really had time to really step into our own and all these things that we tried with this record we were able to really expand on or dial it in," explains Vanlerberghe. Meanwhile, Steve shed light on the pressure they felt, coming off the back of two Grammy nominations for their previous album: "I'd say it was definitely the most pressure, I feel like, in terms of going into it with the most expectations..."

The styles in question - as mentioned in our album review - find I Prevail dabbling in everything from rap/spoken word nu-metal jams, melodic rock sing-a-longs, heavy hitters and, of course, their signature metalcore belters. Add on top of this the number of solos where the attention will (and should) be on Steve, you've got the makings of what could be Album of the Year material for a lot of fans - both new and old. We jokingly asked if adding more solos was intentional to give Steve some big dick energy moments on stage at future shows, to which he cheerfully replied with:

"Definitely. I'm pushing the singers out of the centre of the stage [laughs]. I'm picturing spotlight vibes, probably I think. I don't want anyone else visible at that point."

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Photo Gallery by Clinton Hatfield. Insta: @ampd.agency

On top of their HEAVY new single and video for 'Self-Destruction' dropping tomorrow (which fits perfectly snug amongst their back catalogue - including singles from their last album Trauma), fans can also anticipate hearing a somewhat continuation of their Grammy-nominated crowd-pleaser 'Bow Down' in the form of 'FWYTYK' which stands for 'Fuck What You Think You Know'. This song resonated with me upon first listen because it is yet another middle-finger-up-anthem to the gatekeepers in this scene who think they know everything and constantly spill unwarranted word vomit when it comes to denying this band their glorious crown of the genre.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASr-WjLZs7U

Hellbent on finding out what influenced this number, I grilled Eric Vanlerberghe about it's inspiration and conception - to which he was more than willing to elaborate more for us, revealing:

"Exactly what the song title says fuck what you think you know! You expect to hear something from us and Nope, we're giving you something that I think is two steps ahead of what you're expecting and I think that just sums up the whole body of the song. You know, you thought you're getting this and we're gonna give you this. You're gonna love it, you don't even know it yet, but you're gonna fucking love it"

They're not even joking. Start your countdown until you bear witness to I Prevail's True Power...

Words by Paul ‘Browny’ Brown @brownypaul

True Power is out tomorrow via Fearless Records.
Pre-order/save here

I Prevail – True Power tracklisting:

1. 0-00
2. There’s Fear In Letting Go
3. Body Bag
4. Self-Destruction
5. Bad Things
6. Fake
7. Judgement Day
8. FWYTYK
9. Deep End
10. Long Live The King
11. Choke
12. The Negative
13. Closure
14. Visceral
15. Doomed

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQoC9JlNXM8