For today’s Ask The Artist, we turn our gaze northward to Sweden and reconnect with one of the most quietly powerful names in progressive and melodic metal: WOLVERINE. A band that has always thrived in the space between melancholy and momentum, Wolverine have spent decades shaping songs that feel deeply human — fragile, searching, and quietly devastating.
With the band finally preparing to unveil their first full-length album in ten years, Anomalies, we asked bassist Thomas Jansson a question that reaches far beyond music and straight into the fractures of the modern world:
“If you had the chance to fix one flaw in the world, what would it be?”
Here’s what he had to say.
“Considering the state of things globally right now, there are several obvious and acute flaws that need to be fixed. But if we avoid pointing fingers directly at politicians and warmongers, I wish social media as a phenomenon wouldn’t have evolved the way it has done.
As much as it has given us many wonderful things, it has also brought severely negative things to the world. It is used as a tool of power, to mislead, to divide, to move people further from each other so they can’t even communicate in a civil manner anymore — to the point of polarizing even entire nations. And at the same time we keep scrolling and paying attention to things and people who really just leaves us feeling miserable. The business models exploit our human weaknesses, making us useful idiots living by the algorithm.
Obviously I can’t say how to fix this. To have social media undone would perhaps be a price too high to pay for the many who have been helped to a better life by using it. But in the end, maybe making it disappear would balance things out for the better globally?
In any case, I would love to see the unsocial media of today revert back to being genuinely social again.”
Thoughtful, uncomfortable, and painfully relevant — much like Wolverine’s music itself.
🌌 PRESENTING: “THIS WORLD AND ALL ITS DAZZLING LIGHTS”
Wolverine are now preparing to open a new chapter with Anomalies, their sixth studio album and first full-length release since 2016’s Machina Viva, following the 2021 EP A Darkened Sun. The album arrives February 6th, 2026, via Music Theories Recordings.
The latest song revealed from the album, “This World And All Its Dazzling Lights,” is a luminous yet deeply conflicted piece — one that wraps the listener in warmth while quietly questioning the very reality it celebrates. Sweeping melodies, fluid motion, and an almost celestial sense of lift carry the song forward, even as darker currents twist beneath the surface.
It’s a track that feels simultaneously hopeful and uneasy — a reflection on perception, overload, and the fragile beauty of existence in a world saturated with information and illusion. As with Wolverine’s finest moments, emotion is never forced; it unfolds naturally, drawing the listener inward rather than striking outward.
Anomalies marks the return of the Machina Viva lineup: Stefan Zell (vocals), Jonas Jonsson (guitar), Thomas Jansson (bass), Marcus Losbjer (drums), and Per Henriksson (keyboards) — and promises an album shaped by time, experience, and hard-earned perspective.
After a decade of silence, Wolverine aren’t chasing relevance or nostalgia. They’re simply continuing the conversation — older, wiser, and still asking the questions that matter most.
Make sure to pre-save/order the album here: https://lnk.to/Wolverineband
