Chevelle Sticks to What They Know with "Bright as Blasphemy"
Matthew Lussier | April 7, 2026
After an impressive musical career spanning around three decades, rock band Chevelle has released a new album called “Bright as Blasphemy”. For those who aren’t familiar, the only permanent members are brothers Sam and Pete Loeffler, who formed the band in 1995 with their brother Joe Loeffler. He was replaced with bassist/backing vocalist Dean Bernardini from 1996 to 2019, but bassist Kemble Walters joins them on tour nowadays.
It’s important to note that I am not an unbiased reviewer- Chevelle has been a musical presence all my life; my dad got “Vena Sera” on CD when it came out in 2007. However, I am also someone who has exclusively listened to Chevelle content from before 2012, so I went into this album not really knowing what to expect.
My immediate reaction was that they hadn’t changed a bit, which was a pleasant surprise. It’s common to watch older bands change their style over time, which is totally fair- people change over a couple of decades. Chevelle has stuck to their electric guitar-centered roots, as well as their poetic lyricism- “Cowards Pt. 1” and “Cowards Pt. 2” are reminiscent of early 2000s favorites such as “Face to the Floor” or “Vitamin R”, and a few other new songs were familiar as well. It’s a comfort to find that an old band is still trucking along its same path. An argument could be made that not changing their music over that long is due to a lack of creativity, but why fix what isn’t broken? I don’t keep up with online fan forums, but I am personally pleased with this.
However, the vocals have changed noticeably for a couple of songs, which I am curious about. Whether it’s that their voices changed or that they have just grown as artists, the lead vocals are a bit more shrill (specifically in “Pale Horse,” the first song on the album). Personally, I am not a fan of that, but my opinion could be chalked up to almost exclusively listening to 2004 and 2007 Chevelle previously. Their classic vocal style returns in “Cowards Pt. 1” and continues through most of the album, so the change totally could’ve been a stylistic choice.
A few favorites off of this album include “Cowards Pt. 1”, “Wolves (Love & Light)” and “Shocked at the end of the world.” They all had that classic rock style that I personally love, and were pretty great background music for a long drive. I didn’t like “Blood Out in the Field” too much; its slow electronic vibe stuck out from the loud and fast style of the rest of this album in a way that I did not enjoy.
While I still heavily recommend albums such as “Vena Sera” or “Wonder What’s Next?” to anyone who enjoys classic rock, overall, I didn’t sense any instant hits on this album. Would I buy the CD? Yes. Would I listen to the whole thing on repeat like I have with past favorite Chevelle albums? Probably not.
Left to right: Sam Loeffler, Pete Loeffler, and Kemble Walters of Chevelle performing at the Hollywood Palladium, October 2023 (photo by Josh Gordan).