It is one week until Elegant Weapons release their sophomore album, Evolution, and I, for one, cannot wait to see the reception it receives. I have been in its company for the last month, and it has equally thrilled, impressed and cemented itself into my soul.
Elegant Weapons – Evolution
Release Date: 24 April 2026
Words: Steve Ritchie
Bridges Burn is the single that has been doing the rounds as the album single. It is a cool song, but its placement on the album, following Evil Eyes and Generation Me, is where it truly shines, for Evolution is an album’s album that should be heard in order, old school style.
That is not to say that Evolution is some ’80s-style throwback, far from it. It is just that this is an album I had such fun listening to. The energy across the album is intoxicating, fun, and across 11 songs, this is an album you can really feel invested in.
Evil Eyes is the natural opener on Evolution. Built around a fantastic Richie Faulkner riff, drummer Christopher Williams pushes the track along, and this is where you begin to feel the impressive impact that Ronnie Romero has on the album.
The work of Ronnie, Richie and producer Andy Sneap in producing the vocals from the ground up is a key element on Evolution. “If there was a different technique that we wanted to use,” Richie told MetalTalk earlier, “or a different mic or a different vocal line or melody or harmony, whatever it might have been, we really built it out from the ground up, which we didn’t do on the first record.”
Naturally, the solo is awesome, and those with a keen ear for detail will spot the industrial drill-type sound that leads into the solo. “It’s one of those things where it was a sound effect that I got out of the guitar,” Richie said. “I tried to do it again and couldn’t do it.”
Evil Eyes launches into Generation Me, an equally impressive track. Here, bassist Dave Rimmer solidly follows the riff, and it is the run into Bridge Burn that gives you the sense that this collection of songs is a journey.
Holy Roller finds Richie Faulkner in great form. If there is a Robin Trower feel to the opening, especially with the way Ronnie sings, as the track progresses, you realise you have become immersed in the songwriting and presentation. I’ve said it before, but once you hit the main solo and beyond, and you realise the song is about the Jonestown Massacre, then the goosebumps have hit.
Track Five, and the ballad kicks in. This track is one Evolution that Richie spoke about for Elegant Weapons. “It’s one of those songs that has been around for a long time in various forms,” he said, “and seemed not to work. I had the chorus for a long time and hadn’t found a home for it.”
Here it has the perfect home. Adam Wakeman adds some wonderful keys here, and once again, Ronnie shines. This is another example of many where Ronnie brings everything to the song.
The Devil Calls, Thrown To The Wolves and Shooting Shadows run deep into the album, three excellent tracks that keep the majestic momentum going.
If you have gone this far with the album, the trio to finish, finish Evolution off in true album style. Rupture is one of those synth-driven instrumentals that just get lost in the streaming world. “Sometimes when you write music, you get a movie in your head,” Richie said. The heartbeat in Rupture hints at someone’s survival, but the song finishes with the person flatlining.
The track runs straight into Mercy Of The Fallen, with its wonderful riff. Here, we hear the reprise of the dynamic in Rupture, and when Ronnie sings “Redemption, see the light divine,” the emotions run high.
Elegant Weapons finish Evolution on Keeper Of The Keys. Again, I have said this before, but this is a beautiful song with a proper ending to cap a beautiful album.
For me, Evolution is a triumph of songwriting and a real throwback to when albums were albums and were meant to be listened to all the way through. Keeper Of The Keys has that really classic ending as well.
“It’s what we try to do,” Richie said. “You put an album together as an album. I don’t know if people do that anymore. Obviously, people of a certain age and above do. But it’s almost becoming a lost art.
“People listen to tracks or a couple of tracks alone. But that’s what we try to do, and Keeper Of The Keys is exactly that. I couldn’t find any other place to put it on the record.”
When it finishes, the Hammond is bubbling over, the rotary speaker is going, and it ends like that. The urge to lift the needle, flip the vinyl and start again is huge.
Evolution, for me, is one of those albums where the sum is almost greater than the parts. With no weak tracks, the care in the ordering, attention to detail in production, and Richie’s magic guitar dust in the right places, has made this the type of album that sucked me into Metal in the first place all those years ago.
It is all about the journey. The hope that we might see Elegant Weapons later in the year on tour is a mouthwatering prospect and, as Richie told us, there are discussions around this ongoing.
To see the band live? Then the journey would be complete.
Elegant Weapons release Evolution digitally and on CD on 24 April 2026 via Exciter Records, with a special edition vinyl pressing to follow later in the year. You can pre-save and pre-order Evolution from https://exciter-records.ffm.to/elegantweapons-evolution.
You can read the MetalTalk Elegant Weapons interview with Richie Faukner here: Part One and Part Two.
