Alright, North America, get ready – the Danish-Swedish prog-metal brainiacs VOLA are crashing your continent this September with their super serious new album “Friend Of A Phantom”. Because who doesn’t want existential dread set to groovy riffs, right?
Their “Friend Of A Phantom North America 2025” tour kicks off September 3 in Nashville (hot chicken and odd time signatures, anyone?) and wraps September 28 in West Hollywood, where they’ll probably argue about whether In-N-Out beats Shake Shack. Spoiler: It does.
Pro tip: BLABBERMOUTH.NET is hooking you up with a presale starting April 23 at 2 p.m. ET. Use code “BBMVOLA2025” – because typing random letters totally feels like hacking the Matrix. General tickets drop April 25. Set those alarms, or cry into your Spotify playlist later.
Tour dates: (Same as before, but imagine me reading them in a overly dramatic movie trailer voice)
Sep. 03 – Nashville, TN, Exit/In
Sep. 04 – Atlanta, GA, Center Stage (Prog Power USA)
… [all other dates unchanged] …
Sep. 28 – West Hollywood, CA, The Roxy Theatre
Fun fact: That Roxy show? Same stage where Mötley Crüe once lit a drum kit on fire. VOLA probably won’t, but their synth solos might melt your face anyway.
“Friend Of A Phantom” dropped last November via Mascot Records – the same label that brought you bands with names you can’t pronounce. Singles like “Paper Wolf” and “Cannibal” (featuring IN FLAMES’ Anders Fridén, who apparently moonlights as a Viking choir director) have been melting eardrums since.
Earlier this year, VOLA played wingman to INTERVALS on the “Memory Palace Tour 2025”. Rumor has it they spent tour bus debates arguing about whether pineapples belong on pizza. (They do. Fight me.)
Their 2021 album “Witness” was like if Radiohead and Meshuggah had a baby raised by robots. Three U.S. tours later, they’ve upgraded venues faster than Elon Musk rebrands Twitter. Sold-out shows in NYC, Chicago, and LA’s Troubadour – where they bonded with Fridén over Swedish meatballs and distortion pedals.
The band – Asger Mygind (guitar/vocals, probably owns 17 tuners), Martin Werner (keys, likely a synth wizard), Nicolai Mogensen (bass, silent but deadly), and Adam Janzi (drums, human metronome) – have opened for Devin Townsend (who once performed in a giant hamster ball, FYI) and EVANESCENCE (Amy Lee’s hair alone deserves a Grammy).
Their music? Imagine a Rubik’s Cube made of thunder. Or as drummer Adam puts it: “Embracing change… makes life more enjoyable.” Deep, dude. Save some philosophy for the rest of us.
