It hasn’t taken long for I Prevail to make its presence felt on the heavy music scene. Not only is this still-young band starting to headline major theaters and even some arenas, its second album, 2019’s “Trauma,” earned Grammy nominations for Best Rock Album and Best Metal Performance, for the song “Bow Down.”
Grammy recognition and fast-growing popularity can create pressure for any band. But guitarist-rough vocalist Eric Vanlerbleghe said I Prevail was determined to tune out any noise that got in the way of the music it was creating for its third album, “True Power.” (A rough vocalist is a singer who uses vocal techniques that produce a raw, harsh or distorted sound.)
“We absolutely did not let that come into play, like, ‘This record’s got to be nominated,’” he said in a phone interview. “When we worked on this record, the quality, the time, the care put into it, we said to ourselves we just want this to be appreciated.
“I think if you’re writing to win something, then that loses the heart of it, and the heart is what makes it what it is,” he added.
Musically, I Prevail have come a long way in a short time. The band’s first full-length album, 2016’s “Lifelines” was solid enough, but stayed largely within the lines of the metalcore (heavy metal and hardcore punk) sound.
But “Trauma” represented a major step forward, as I Prevail stretched out, incorporating elements of electronic dance music, pop melodicism, hip-hop and more into its metalcore sound.
The band grew musically despite going through some trying times. Vanlerbleghe lost a close friend to suicide, while smooth vocalist Brian Burkheiser faced vocal cord surgery that scared him to the point that he briefly thought he might have to give up music.
I Prevail responded by opening up emotionally in the lyrics on “Trauma.”
“Let’s be completely open, let’s be ourselves, and on the musical end of it, let’s push the boundaries a little musically,” Vanlerbleghe said, summing up the thinking heading into the “Trauma” project. “So, all in all, lyrically, thematically, musically, it was a very cathartic experience to be able to work on and release the record.”
Going into the “True Power” project, the emotions weren’t as heavy. But Vanlerbleghe, Burkheiser (who left I Prevail on good terms in May) and their bandmates — guitarist Steve Menoian, guitarist Dylan Bowman (who will also handle clean vocals in the new four-man lineup) and drummer Gabe Helguera — felt empowered to push their music even further.
On songs such as “Body Bag” and “Choke,” I Prevail show they can still be plenty fierce, as racing tempos, grinding guitars and screamed vocals create a good bit of musical mayhem. But the band also shows a melodic side, mixing expansive pop choruses with gnarled spoken-word vocals and crushing riffs on “There’s Fear in Letting Go,” “Judgment Day,” and most notably, the ethereal ballad “Doomed.”
The sound further diversifies on “Long Live the King,” with its rap vocals and anthemic rock refrain, and on “Self-Destruction,” which adds touches of electronic dance music and hip-hop vocals to an otherwise thunderous track.
The ambition I Prevail has shown both musically and with its career has been apparent from the start. After the band formed in 2013 in the Detroit area, Vanlerbleghe and Burkheiser spent a year and a half writing songs, some of which surfaced on the 2014 EP “Heart vs. Mind.” But the duo also came up with a clever gambit to create awareness of the band, posting a metal cover of the Taylor Swift song “Blank Space” to YouTube.
“We had our EP done and ready to go,” Vanlerbleghe said. “We decided we should probably do a cover just to get some attention, and Taylor Swift’s record was the one that was coming out soonest. We just happened to pick the song that she picked for her next single.”
The “Blank Space” cover generated plenty of attention and some backlash from those who considered the cover a gimmick that gave I Prevail a leg up on a career without paying its proper dues. Vanlerbleghe, though, noted it wasn’t just the “Blank Spaces” cover that got a reaction.
“We kept the cover off of the EP just so we could see what sold organically and the streams,” he said. “Our originals were doing just as well as the cover.”
The group’s music has since connected with radio. “Hurricane,” a single off “Trauma,” and “Bad Things,” a single from “True Power,” both topped the Billboard mainstream rock airplay chart, while “Deep End,” another single from “True Power,” went Top 5 on that chart. More recently, the group teamed up with Halestorm on the single “Can U See Me in the Dark?” That song also topped Billboard’s mainstream rock airplay chart.
The band built its audience the old-fashioned way by hitting the road hard behind “Heart vs. Mind” and later “Lifelines” and “Trauma.” The trend has continued with “True Power,” as I Prevail has been on the road for much of the last two years. This summer the band is featured on the multi-act Summer of Loud tour, which hits Cellairis Amphitheatre at Lakewood on Tuesday.
As for its set list, Vanlerbleghe said, “As we were building it, we tried to keep … it like a roller coaster, where we start off really extreme and up and energetic, and you have moments in the set where the dynamics change.
“So, plan on having a very stimulating experience,” he said.
CONCERT PREVIEW
I Prevail
3 p.m. Tuesday. Summer of Loud tour also includes Parkway Drive, Killswitch Engage and Beartooth. $30-plus. Cellairis Amphitheatre at Lakewood, 2002 Lakewood Way, Atlanta. ticketmaster.com.
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