We could release a hang-drum odyssey with seagull noises and somebody would still say it sounds like Tool! Wheel have no time for outdated comparisons [Video]

In the two years since Resident Human, Wheel have undergone internal changes that very nearly destroyed them. But the Finnish-Anglo band have bounced back with the more experimental Charismatic Leaders. Singer and guitarist James Lascelles tells Prog about the challenges behind creating their third studio album.

The last time Prog spoke to Wheel, the future looked bright. The Anglo-Finnish band were about to release their second album, Resident Human, and frontman James Lascalles seemed in good spirits as he discussed mindfulness and the benefits of yoga and exercise, explaining how they’d helped him work through issues that had caused him to “completely burn out” in summer 2020. Only, Lascelles wasn’t out of the woods yet.

“It took me quite a while to bounce back,” he admits. “Resident Human was a very odd place to be, for all of us. In many ways I think recording it was the only thing holding me together. All my paid work …