The cover artwork for Chevelle‘s upcoming album NIRATIAS paints a futuristic, sci-fi picture, but the sound of the record references the band’s past.

Speaking with ABC Audio, frontman Pete Loeffler shares that NIRATIAS reminds him of Chevelle’s earlier material, especially around the time of 2002’s Wonder What’s Next.

“I think fans of the early stuff, like Wonder What’s Next, will probably like it,” Loeffler says.

Loeffler and his brother/drummer, Sam Loeffler, found that sound for NIRATIAS after initially recording a batch of “super heavy” songs, but then were challenged by producer Joe Barresi to try and “beat” them. The result was what became much of NIRATIAS, including the lead single “Self Destructor.”

“Those are even more melodic, hearkening back to Wonder What’s Next-era, I think,” Pete explains. “Some fans might even be, like, they don’t know what I’m talking about, but to me, that’s what it feels like.”

“It’s just more melodic singing over heavy stuff,” he adds. “It’s not as much screaming on this album, for sure.”

You can certainly hear that in “Self Destructor,” as well as the recently released album cut “Peach.” Both songs also share an arpeggio-style guitar riff, which is a sound that repeats throughout NIRATIAS.

“It’s a lot of single note pull-offs, things like that, down around the twelfth fret, but not necessarily on the heavy strings,” Pete says. “It’s more of like a Muse-y kind of ‘Let’s throw some fuzz on here and make it melodic.'”

With “Self Destructor,” for example, the result is a “little bit of a lighter rock song” that “still has its moments of heaviness.”

“It is kind of a theme,” Pete says. 

NIRATIAS will be released March 5.

By Josh Johnson
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