It’s by no means been straightforward outfitting a classic car like Appalachian people music with fashionable bells and whistles. However on their new self-titled LP, Harrisonburg, Va.’s Metal Wheels aren’t merely placing lipstick on the proverbial pig—they’re executing a makeover from the within out, redefining their acoustic sensibilities over an ever-changing people/rock panorama.
In some methods, The Metal Wheels is a continuation of the superior sonic handiwork that made Sideways the most effective albums you didn’t hear in 2024. For his or her ninth studio LP in 20 years, the Wheels braved some harsh winter climate on the Shenandoah Valley studio owned by coproducer D. James Goodwin (Goose, Bonny Mild Horseman, I’m With Her), who combined the band’s 2019 album, Over The Bushes.
A targeted and environment friendly recording course of yielded music with a dwelling, respiration sense of place—a harmony-rich balm for the existential angst that lent a sure dramatic pressure to Sideways. From a thematic standpoint, all is just not 100-percent copacetic within the holler. However 20 years down the street, the Metal Wheels have discovered a satisfying new regular. You need to surprise if their greatest music is but to return.
If there’s a frontman to this collective operation, it’s Trent Wagler, whose easy lead vocals and fluid banjo work assist preserve the purist clichés at bay. Right here’s Wegler’s tackle every monitor.
—Hobart Rowland
1) “Go Again”
“Though it may be straightforward to be nostalgic in regards to the previous, this track acknowledges that with all relationships come deep pleasure and ache. If you want away the ache, you’d must want away the enjoyment with it. None of us are higher off for dropping the time we’ve been collectively, it doesn’t matter what troublesome losses might befall us.”
2) “Straightforward”
“We dwell sooner or later now. Every thing might be found and solved with the push of a button. It’s really easy … And we’re so lonely. It’s not straightforward. However nonetheless, we now have it fairly good, proper?”
3) “Chilly Name”
“All of life is studying to lose. Accepting that failure is part of progress, loss of life is part of life and goals generally come true … However even these don’t final. We’re all studying to lose. Can the notice of impending loss give us the motivation to inform everybody we all know we love them?”
4) “Chase It All Away”
“Maintain it all of sudden. The prognosis, the attractive seaside, the exhausting work coming, the lazy afternoon. How will we measure the necessity of the day? Is it in widgets moved, checklists marked or in winding paths taken? How will we preserve our interior fireplace burning to maintain curious and passionate, with out breaking down when life hits us with the sudden?”
5) “Important St. Haven”
“A tribute to small-town Kansas, old flame or some semblance of emotions—and the best way residence attracts you again to it, nonetheless sophisticated it is likely to be.”
6) “Want The Assist”
“Calling all males: the hardworking, cussed, the classically educated within the artwork of masculinity. Will you ask for assist in case you want it? Will you ever present your hand? Is that this 2025 ‘manosphere’ simply one other gasp of patriarchal modeling we’ve been by and seen the folly of earlier than? If I’m constructed from that very same stuff, can I discover a approach to break the cycle?”
7) “Lengthy To Hear That Sound”
“Some issues are designed to fail … or fail as a result of their structure, with out intention. Is it higher to allow them to die, and even higher to speed up their demise? Can we bridge the gaps? How a lot can will and exhausting work do to beat the obstacles?”
8) “Maintain On Dancing”
“Let’s take a second and excuse ourselves of all different duties. No extra anxiousness or stress—simply this second. Can we recognize the wonder in a day with no need to organize or protect? It’s a kindness … the notice of 1 second. A lover’s dance—by many years, years—can remind us what it’s all for.”
9) “Who Wins The Struggle”
“A Mennonite father muses over his son’s option to go to struggle towards their group teachings within the Shenandoah Valley through the Civil Struggle. There have been some who believed it extra holy to rent a substitute to struggle as a substitute of preventing themselves. On this fictitious retelling, the daddy wonders if his son will make it residence and if he’s responsible for not defending him. Who wins the struggle, and who’s it really for?”
10) “Let Me See”
“A snapshot of deep despair, this track logs all of the methods one can attempt to discover hope and which means—however fail. If there’s not a solution to those questions, how can I preserve sitting in the identical cycle? I actually need to see some mild, or I’m afraid I received’t make it out of the darkish.”
11) “Farewell Tune”
“A track of gratitude for hospitality on the street. The numerous miles touring down the street as a band are astounding, as are the properties and venues the place some have turn out to be household and provided a lot assist alongside the best way.”
12) “Banjos For Everybody”
“A easy old-time-inspired musing about music which will or will not be your favourite. Banjos aren’t for everybody, maybe. However are you able to settle for that they’re fairly nice for a few of us? There’s a house for everybody—be it banjos, chessboards, weight rooms or quilting circles. There’s magnificence in a inventive life lived unabashedly.”
See the Metal Wheels dwell.
