Polyphia have shared details for their fifth studio album, Be Not Afraid, which will land October 23.
The highly anticipated album was previewed by lead single Can You Feel It? in June. It saw Tim Henson and co invent a new genre as they leant into heavier territory to explore rave riffs with eight-string guitars.
Be Not Afraid’s second single, Power In The Blood, has also now been released, along with news that Polyphia will be delaying their North American tour dates from 2026 to early 2027.
Power In The Blood continues down the proto-electro-riff territory that was first introduced in Can You Feel It?, though it swaps edge-of-the-seat riffing for breakneck technical virtuosity.
It’s a clear sonic extension, though, and with it we get a better picture of what we can expect from Polyphia in Be Not Afraid.
After all, Henson hasn’t been shy to tease that the record will be heavier than previous Polyphia outings. If these two singles are anything to go by, the band are going to comfortably live up to their word.
“During the making of this record, we went down some pretty dark rabbit holes,” Henson says. “We kept coming across things that were so depraved they sounded insane when you said them out loud. Then some of the very things we had been talking about started appearing in documents released to the public.
“You can read that stuff and feel disgusted, demoralized, and completely powerless. BE NOT AFRAID is our response to that. Rather than allowing the ugliness of the world to paralyze us, we put everything we had into making something beautiful.
“We weren’t afraid of whether something was too different or whether people were going to understand it. We just followed what excited us and made what I believe is our best record to date.”
He continues: “The album takes you through the extremes of two different worlds and moods: one being very uplifting and triumphant, the other being spine-chilling and terrifying. There are moments on the record that legitimately scare me when I listen to them.”
The progressive metal pioneers have been at the cutting edge of guitar music for the past 10 years, since the release of their acclaimed debut record, Muse.
Since then, Tim Henson and Scott LePage have continued to push the boundary of modern guitar music and technique, exploring uncharted fretboard territory and guitar design along the way.
All of that is to say, Polyphia 5 has been a long time coming. We don’t have much longer to wait.
For a full list of tour dates and to pre-order Be Not Afraid, visit Polyphia’s website.
