NIRATIAS

Brothers Pete and Sam Loeffler were putting the finishing touches on the ninth Chevelle album when COVID-19 descended in early 2020. “The last four years have been very tumultuous for us and our friends and family,” Pete tells Apple Music. “And then on top of it, this pandemic and the election. We were trying to come up with an album title right when COVID was hitting, and the situation just didn’t seem real.” The title they settled on is an acronym for “Nothing Is Real and This Is a Simulation”—a fitting description for Chevelle’s sci-fi take on driving hard rock—and a cover painting by the great Peruvian fantasy artist Boris Vallejo seals the deal. “This album talks about simulation theory, space travel and all this wild technology,” Pete says. “But the title is also a reference to basically losing your job overnight because the music industry stopped.” Below, he comments on the album’s songs. Verruckt “This opening song harkens us back to our first album in that it’s an instrumental. It's a bit heavy and a bit crazy, as the title says [in German]. I love how it weaves heaviness around before ending on the double kick pattern constantly telling the listener to turn it up louder. It also allows me to get lost in the music without being tied to a microphone for a chance to roam around.” So Long, Mother Earth “The first of a few songs speaking about interstellar travel. I’m trying some new techniques for writing on the guitar these days. A few less power chords and more moving/walking single-string riffs. It seemed to help us end up at new places within our music. Lyrically, it deals with the loss of leaving Earth and its relationships, searching for courage for the future and wondering if technology can help us advance to the point of being an interplanetary species.” Mars Simula “This song is a banger of excitement for me. Heavy and always pushing forward toward a release, it’s a track designed for chaos in the live setting. It’s inspired by Elon Musk and SpaceX