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Recipients of high praise from NPR, The Needle Drop, Brooklyn Vegan, Decibel and Metal Hammer, Wailin Storms have caught fire since migrating to North Carolina in 2014. Now, the Durham natives are fanning the flames even higher with their upcoming fifth album and first for Season of Mist. On The Arsonist, the band deliver a fiery baptism of Southern gothic rock.

“[…] moves between raw blues punk, gothic rock and folk-leaning melancholy, with an intentionally human and unpolished sound”, Distorted Sound wrote upon the release of the album’s title track.

“[…]soaring and enthralling”, CVLT Nation wrote about second single “You Never Answered”.

Today, Wailin Storms are premiering a suspenseful music video for the third and final advanced single from The Arsonist with Treble. With the ghost of David Lynch riding passenger seat, “Dead End” takes a harrowing post-punk turn.

“‘Dead End’ is about seeing yourself after you die”, Wailin Storms vocalist and guitarist Justin Storms says. “It’s the first song on The Arsonist and one of the first that was written for the album. It flowed out of me while I was messing around with my Strymon El Capistan guitar pedal. It sets the tone by jolting you straight into a fever dream that’s filled with cryptic messages from beyond.

Watch the music video for “Dead End” on Treble’s website.

The video for “Dead End” was directed, filmed and edited by Wailin Storms.

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 “Dead End” and other 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
August 8 – Richmond, VA @ Cobra Cabana

The Arsonist calls back to 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. Like a truck leaving the Roadhouse in Twin Peaks, “Dead End” swerves behind bone-rattling drums and noisy scrapes of guitar. “So much music is drowning in sterile digital production”, Storms says. “With this album, we recorded everything in analog. We didn’t touch a computer until mixing”.

Inspired by Lynch and René Magritte, Wailin Storms throw heavier splashes of surrealism into the fires of The Arsonist. “Dead End” begins innocently enough – that is, until the nightmare takes hold. “Calm night, birds keep plucking out our eyes”, Storms sings as if lulled into a trance by the heavy swings of bass. The video stages a crime that would thrill Hollywood’s dark heart, but the album is inflamed by real-life anxieties. Seas rise; cars go screaming through the night, though already, on its opening track, the band warn that it’s too late.  

“Don’t save me”. With one more punch of the gas, “Dead End” bursts into flame.  

“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. “It speaks to our inherent attraction to danger and annihilation, but also, our hope for transformation”.

Tracklist
1. Dead End (4:48) [WATCH]
2. Heart of Mine (5:13)
3. You Never Answered (4:53) [WATCH]
4. The Arsonist (4:52) [WATCH]
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