Swedish progressive metal outfit SEVENTH WONDER will release their seventh studio album, VII, on January 29, 2027 via Frontiers Music. It is the band's first record since 2022's The Testament and the first to feature new vocalist Mattias Olofsson, who replaces Tommy Karevik (now fronting KAMELOT full time). The first taste is the album opener "Memories", out now with an official video.
According to bassist Andreas Blomqvist, "Memories" arrived at the very end of the writing process. The band was worried it didn't yet have the right song to introduce the new lineup, until keyboardist Andreas "Kyrt" Söderin brought the idea into the studio. Olofsson wrote the vocal lines and led the lyric writing, with the rest of the band finishing them together. Blomqvist calls it the perfect showcase of what SEVENTH WONDER sound like in 2026 and 2027.
Finding a new singer after Karevik's exit was, in Blomqvist's words, "a daunting task", as was working out who the band were after the long silence that followed The Testament. He says VII covers a wide range of moods without straying from the formula fans know, and that longtime listeners should feel at home among the solos, odd time signatures and instrumental stretches. "A new singer is a new face of the band which we hope will reinvigorate the listeners and bring something new and exciting to the table," he adds.
SEVENTH WONDER were formed in 2000 by Blomqvist, guitarist Johan Liefvendahl and drummer Johnny Sandin, with Söderin joining soon after. Karevik came aboard in 2005, the year of the debut Become, and sang on Waiting In The Wings (2006), Mercy Falls (2008) and The Great Escape (2010), the run that made the band one of the key names in European prog metal. Drummer Stefan Norgren later replaced Sandin and has played on the live release Welcome To Atlanta (2016) and the studio albums Tiara (2018) and The Testament.
VII tracklist:
- Memories
- Riverside
- The Villain And The Whisper
- Evermore
- Cry Wolf
- The Storm
- Silver Lining
- Echoes
- Ad Infinitum
SEVENTH WONDER are Mattias Olofsson (vocals), Johan Liefvendahl (guitar), Andreas Blomqvist (bass), Andreas Söderin (keyboards) and Stefan Norgren (drums).