Polyphia have released their fifth studio album Be Not Afraid on Rise Records, blending metal, progressive rock and house music into an instrumental exploration of opposing forces. The Texas quartet premiered the album track Let There Be Light alongside a new music video directed by Caleb Young.
Genre-defying instrumental rock innovators Polyphia have released their highly anticipated fifth full-length studio album Be Not Afraid with Rise Records.
With the release, they put out a new music video directed by Caleb Young at Hand Crank Films for the standout track Let There Be Light.
“‘LET THERE BE LIGHT’ is one of those beloved tracks that stuck with us throughout the writing process for the entire record. Being one of the first ideas that kickstarted the style for this album, it has seen every part of this record as it was being written - we’ve added and taken away many parts of the song, and we still feel like we could have kept going on it,” shares guitarist
Scott LePage.
Earlier this year, Polyphia teased their new chapter with the release of their first single in over four years, “CAN YOU FEEL IT” pushing boundaries in ways the band never has before with a hybrid of metal and dance music. Following, they released “POWER IN THE BLOOD” and
“WITH EYES TO SEE,” showcasing powerful visuals that lay the foundation for what listeners can expect of the new record.
“We turned the record in a couple months ago, but we love this record so much that we continued working on it all the way up to a week before its release. We were blessed to be able to work with the choir members who sang on Ye’s Sunday Service which is a bucket list item for me as I listen to them all the time,” shares Tim Henson.
Throughout 2024 and 2025, Polyphia worked together in various locations in Miami, Los Angeles and Dallas alongside co-producer RJ Pasin and guitar phenom Spiro Dussias. Guitarist Tim Henson took a different approach to composition, initially singing lines aloud and then translating them onto guitar, creating a process that encouraged the entire band to build on each other’s ideas in real time. More than anything, the sessions were defined by how much fun they were having creating music together. By the time the album was finished, they had reached a point where they could let go of any expectations about what would happen next and simply enjoy what they had created together.
The collective thread together a three-dimensional offering of otherworldly metal, future-facing prog, and pulsating house sealed tightly with carefully curated samples, inventive beat-craft, and the guitar eloquence that Tim and Scott remain renowned for. This time around, the instrumental push-and-pull invokes the polarity of the ultimate extremes: good and evil.
When speaking on the album Henson adds, “The album takes you through the extremes of two different worlds / 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.”
Be Not Afraid is available now
polyphia.lnk.to/BENOTAFRAID
Polyphia have always said what they need to say with their instruments. Since their emergence in 2010, the Texas-bred outfit—Tim Henson [guitar], Scott LePage [guitar], Clay Gober [bass], and Clay Aeschliman [drums]—have organically progressed across a series of acclaimed albums, including Muse [2014], Renaissance [2016], New Levels New Devils [2018], and Remember That You Will Die [2022]. The latterbowed at #1 on the Billboard Top Hard Rock Albums Chart and cracked the Top 40 of the Billboard 200. Tallying hundreds of millions of streams, it established the band as rare outliers equally suited to collaborations with either pop singer Sophia Black, multiplatinum rapper SNOT, guitar hero Steve Vai, or iconic Deftones frontman Chino Moreno (on the same body of work).
It’s no wonder Guitar World readers unanimously voted it “The Best Guitar Album of 2022.” Beyond headlining sold-out tours, the group incited the applause of Wired, Revolver, and Rolling Stone who described Tim as “reinventing the instrument for more than a decade.” However, the quartet make a particularly provocative and powerful sonic statement on their fifth full-length offering, BE NOT AFRAID [Rise Records]. The collective thread together a three-dimensional tableau of otherworldly metal, future-facing prog, and pulsating house sealed tightly with carefully curated samples, inventive beat-craft, and the guitar eloquence that Tim and Scott remain renowned for. This time around, the instrumental push-and-pull invokes the polarity of the ultimate extremes: good and evil.
To stay up to date on all the latest news from the band via @Polyphia
