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With their bluesy riffs, swampy rhythms and haunting vocals, Wailin Storms are one of the hottest bands in Southern gothic rock. The Durham, North Carolinians have received high praise from NPR, The Needle Drop, Brooklyn Vegan, Decibel and Metal Hammer. Thunderous applause has greeted them on both sides of The Atlantic during shows and tour dates with everyone from City of Caterpillar and This Will Destroy You to Acid Bath and Eyehategod. Now, with their upcoming fifth album,The Arsonist, the band are fanning their flames with reckless abandon.   

Today, Wailin Storms are announcing The Arsonist with a music video for the album’s simmering title track. While slowly engulfed in flames, amidst their new single’s fiery throes of passion, the band howl like the hounds of hell.

“The Arsonist was forged in the fires of our hearts”, Wailin Storms vocalist and guitarist Justin Storms says. “The title track was the initial spark for the album. It’s about the fear of losing the person you love most in life, a love that is so consuming that it takes on many forms: a car crash, a tumultuous sea, vines wrapping around a tree, a house fire”.    

The video for “The Arsonist” was directed and edited by Reid Haithcock (@reidhaithcock)

The Arsonist comes out July 10, 2026 on Season of Mist. Pre-order & Pre-save: https://orcd.co/wailinstormsthearsonist

Wailin Storms are igniting the stage this summer with a headline U.S. tour. The band will perform songs off The Arsonist for the first time, along with crowd favorites from across their critically-acclaimed discography.

Wailin Storms 2026 The Arsonist U.S. Tour

July 17 – Durham, NC @ Stanczyk’s [Album Release Show]
July 29 – Johnson City, TN @ The Hideaway
July 30 – Atlanta, GA @ Star Bar
July 31 – Knoxville, TN @ The Pilot Light
August 1 – Cincinnati, OH @ Motr
August 2 – Youngstown, OH @ Westside Bowl
August 3 – Columbus, OH @ Dirty Dungarees
August 4 – Pittsburgh, PA @ The Government Center
August 5 – Baltimore, MD @ Metro Gallery
August 6 – Brooklyn, NY @ The Gutter
August 7 – New Hope, PA @ John and Peter’s

“I’ve always been fascinated with fire”, says Storms, who was raised by a church pianist and a Baptist preacher. As a child, growing up in Corpus Christi, Texas, he came dangerously close to accidentally burning his family’s house down. “I was young and made a stupid mistake, but I was also being destructive as a way to escape. Fire speaks to our inherent attraction to danger and annihilation, but also, our hope for transformation”.

The Arsonist can also be traced back into Wailin Storms’ past. Recorded by Matt Talbott of Hum in full analog, the album rekindles the band’s roots in raw-to-the-bone blues punk. The title track simmers over a shivering riff and oily slide guitar before bursting into a noisy seance that rages deep into the night.

“Some of these songs are more primitive and stripped down, hearkening back to the four-track recordings that the band started with”, Storms says. “The title track was the first one written for album. I started playing the opening riff and the rest just flowed right out of me”.

Wailin Storms throw heavier splashes of surrealism into the fires of The Arsonist. David Lynch and René Magritte were both wellsprings of inspiration, but the album is inflamed by real life anxieties. Its cover art, which is heavily shadowed except for a tiny house gone up in flames, was painted by Storms himself. “Our homes burn every night”, he croons as the title track’s gentle sway shifts into a torrential gust of flames. “We burn so bright”. The thunderous climax surges with such feverish intensity that it threatens to send the night of passion up in smoke.

“‘The Arsonist’ is a very intimate song, about love and heartbreak and loss”, Storms concludes. “It’s romantic, but also scary. I was so obsessed with fire back in the day that I worry me and my partner are going to die in a flaming car crash or in a house fire together”.

Tracklist
1. Dead End (4:48)
2. Heart of Mine (5:13)
3. You Never Answered (4:53)
4. The Arsonist (4:52)
5. Never Rest (4:59)
6. Saved (4:24)
7. Patient Night (3:22)
8. The Wind (6:01)
9. It’s All Dark Now Where Your Eyes Used to Be (6:30)

Since migrating to North Carolina’s inland coast circa 2014, Wailin Storms have caught fire with noisy, bluesy explosions of Southern gothic rock. Hot on the heels of critical high praise and thunderous applause from crowds on both sides of the Atlantic, the band’s fifth album and first for Season of Mist fans their flames with reckless abandon. While surrounded by darkness from the outside world, The Arsonist burns with all of our heart’s desires.  

“I’ve always been fascinated by fire”, Wailin Storms vocalist and guitarist Justin Storms says before alluding to a time when he came dangerously close to accidentally burning his family’s house down. “It speaks to our inherent attraction to danger and annihilation, but also, our hope for transformation”.

Born the son of a church pianist and Baptist preacher, Justin Storms converted to the church of rock ‘n’ roll after listening to the teachings of his older brother. “He was responsible for getting me into outsider music”. After forming Wailin Storms in his home state of Texas and a pass through New York City, Storms hunkered down in Durham, North Carolina, where he was joined in 2014 by the band’s current drummer Mark Oates (Bats & Mice) and bassist Steve Stanczyk.  

Debut full-length One Foot in the Flesh Grave laid a solid foundation for Wailin Storms in 2015 with an East Coast and Midwest tour that led to their first appearance at The Fest. 2017 follow-up Sick City infected more ears with coverage spreading from CVLT Nation to NPR. It was their third album, though, that really opened the floodgates. Rattle was featured by The Needle Drop and named one of the best albums of 2020 by Treble, Riff Magazine, Angry Metal Guy and Machine Music. More attention from Decibel and Metal Hammer came two years later around The Silver Snake Unfolds, which was followed by the arrival of guitarist Ben Melton, as well as shows and tour dates with everyone from City of Caterpillar, pageninetynine and This Will Destroy You to Acid Bath, Eyehategod and Young Widows.  

“If Bauhaus, Killing Joke, and Black Sabbath had a child, this would be it”, Metal Injection proclaimed about Wailin Storms.  

Brooklyn Vegan concurred. “It’s just loud, heavy, dark rock music, and it’s awesome”.  

The Arsonist can be traced back through Wailin Storms’ past.  Recorded by Matt Talbott of Hum in full analog, the album rekindles the band’s roots in raw-to-the-bone blues punk as a heated response to today’s vat of overproduced music and AI slop. By experimenting with swoons of Rhodes organ, “Heart of Mine” recalls the Roadhouse from Twin Peaks. “Some of these songs are more primitive and stripped down, harkening back to the four-track recordings that the band started with”, Storms says. “The recordings contain flaws but remain human in all the right ways. They could be a murder ballad or an old folk song that’s sung around the campfire”. Other early influences soak into the songwriting’s weathered fabric: Flannery O’Conner’s grotesque sensibility, Cormac McCarthy’s unflinching fatalism, Old Regular Baptist hymns. With its sideways gust of riffs and moaning chorus, “The Wind” blows loud enough to wake the entire cemetery.  

“Because the heart wants what the body wants and the mind wants what the eyes want”, Storms gravely intones. “Won’t you take me through hell”.    

Wailin Storms throw heavy splashes of surrealism into the fires of The Arsonist. “Many of the lyrics draw from the same imagery and emotions conjured by David Lynch, especially his film Wild at Heart”, Storms says. “Dead End” opens the album by taking a harrowing turn of its own when the drum’s rattle leads straight into a waking nightmare. “Calm night / Birds keep plucking out our eyes”.  

While shrouded by a doomy and dreamy atmosphere, The Arsonist is inflamed by real life anxieties. Taking inspiration from René Magritte, the album’s cover art, which is heavily shadowed except for a tiny house gone up in flames, was painted by Storms himself. “These songs are steeped in the trials and tribulations of everyday life”, he says. The title track is slowly engulfed by love’s eternal flame. “Like the wind controls the sea”, he croons over the gentle sway of his guitar. “You always had a hold on me”. The thunderous climax surges with such feverish intensity that it threatens to send the night of passion up in smoke.  

Amidst the wreckage of The Arsonist, Wailin Storms do find a semblance of peace. “It’s All Dark Now Where Your Eyes Used to Be” ends the album with a ghostly flicker of gothic romance. “I know a place where we can sit and grow old”, Storms offers with grim assurance. A piano tolls like death’s bell as he glimpses up at a church that resembles a skull. “There’s a sliver of hope in coming to terms with death”, he concludes. “Life is temporary and that’s where its beauty lies”.  

On The Arsonist, Wailin Storms deliver a fiery baptism of Southern gothic rock.

Lineup
Justin Storms – Lead vocals, rhythm guitar
Ben Melton – Lead guitar, backup vocals, Rhodes organ, piano
Steve Stanczyk – Bass
Mark Oates – Drums

Recording credits
Recorded at Earth Analog in May 2025

Production Credits
Produced and engineered by Matt Talbott
Mixed by Mike Lust at Phantom Manor (“Dead End”, “Heart of Mine”, “You Never Answered”, “The Arsonist”, “Never Rest”, “The Wind”, It’s All Dark Now Where Your Eyes Used to Be”
Mixed by Dave Downham at Gradwell House (“Saved”, “Patient Night”)
Mastered by Dave Downham at Gradwell House

All lyrics written by Justin Storms

Cover art
Justin Storms

Layout and design
Steve Stanczyk

Follow Wailin Storms
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2e1J5JQpROgSuT7RcsUbZ2
Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/wailin-storms/451185826
Bandcamp: https://wailinstorms.bandcamp.com
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@wailinstorms7
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wailinstorms/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wailinstorms/?hl=en