Eidola’s “The Will to Power” marks a return to the progressive, metal-influenced post-hardcore that established the band’s identity, according to a review by Boolin Tunes. The album follows 2025’s “Mend,” which the outlet described as a broader experiment with mainstream genres, alternative rock and pop rock.
Boolin Tunes’ review places the new record within Eidola’s long-running interest in spiritual and philosophical ideas. The album takes loose inspiration from Friedrich Nietzsche’s philosophical work of the same name, giving the band another conceptual framework for its songs. The review describes the record as a release designed to reconnect with listeners who were less interested in “Mend’s” more accessible direction.
A heavier direction
The album begins with “Doom Sequence,” which the review says opens on pulsing synthesizers before moving into heavy metallic guitar parts. Matthew Dommer’s unclean vocals are a central part of that transition. Boolin Tunes says Dommer’s screams contrast with frontman Andrew Wells’ clean, soaring vocals and receive room to stand out on nearly every track.
- Andrew Wells: clean vocals and primary songwriting
- Matthew Dommer: guitar and unclean vocals
- Matthew Hansen: drums
“Purity Ladder,” identified in the review as the lead single, adds atmosphere to the band’s progressive guitar work. “Damballah” is presented as one of the album’s most forceful songs, with Dommer taking a prominent vocal role amid dense distortion and Hansen’s powerful drumming.
Boolin Tunes also points to variety within the album’s heavier approach. “Nothing Ever Happens” begins with Wells singing over synthesizers and melodic guitar, a combination the review compares with the sound of the band CHON. That track provides a softer contrast to the aggressive opening and the weight of “Damballah.”
Part of Eidola’s evolving sound
The review says Eidola has spent the past decade building a place in modern post-hardcore through elaborate concepts and progressive arrangements. Wells’ work with Dance Gavin Dance had raised questions for some listeners about how Eidola would continue to distinguish itself. Boolin Tunes presents “The Will to Power” as the band’s answer: a record that emphasizes its heaviest influences while retaining atmospheric passages and philosophical themes.
Rather than treating the album as a complete break from “Mend,” the review frames it as a correction in emphasis. Eidola keeps some of the melodic and electronic elements heard on the earlier release but places them inside a more forceful post-hardcore structure. For Boolin Tunes, the result is an album focused on the contrast between Wells’ clean singing and Dommer’s harsher vocals.
