RWAKE Confirms Special Live Dates This June; The Return Of Magik Full-Length Out Now On Relapse Records

RWAKE will take to the stage this June on four special shows including a performance at this year’s edition of Mutants Of The Monster Fest on their home turf of Little Rock, Arkansas as well as a show supporting Acid Bath and Weedeater in St. Petersburg, Florida. More dates will be announced in the weeks to come.

RWAKE Live:
6/06/2025 Mutants Of The Monster Fest – Little Rock, AR [tickets]
6/26/2025 Saturn – Birmingham, AL w/ Hexxus, Hiraeth [tickets]
6/28/2025 Jannus Live – St. Petersburg, FL w/ Acid Bath, Weedeater [tickets]
6/29/2025 The Earl – Atlanta, GA w/ Canopy, Insomniac [tickets]

RWAKE released their long-awaited new full-length, The Return Of Magik, last month on Relapse Records.

Years have now fed into an album that reaches into a swirling, cosmic unknown – RWAKE has grown, and the perspective of the material has shifted accordingly. Overwhelming at its peak and haunting during moments of respite, The Return Of Magik is undeniably RWAKE. Every movement feels like an emotionally engrossing journey. Arrangements carefully and thoughtfully built in layers over a period of years lend mystique and a feeling of building toward a cathartic release. There is no box into which the material might fit other than one with the band’s name on it.

Stream RWAKE’s The Return Of Magik HERE. Watch the band’s previously released video for “The Return Of Magik” HERE.

The Return Of Magik is available on CD, LP, and digital formats. Find ordering options at Relapse.com HERE.

Recorded in early 2024 at East End Sounds in Hensley, Arkansas, The Return Of Magik introduces RWAKE’s guitarists John Judkins and Austin Sublett with a barrage of shredded solos suited to the angular, progressive metal riffing of the album’s most jaw-clenching moments, while presenting a through-line of molten, immersive ambience. The opener “You Swore We’d Always Be Together” – already a fixture of live sets – and the expansive sprawl of “Distant Constellations And The Psychedelic Incarceration” move with cruelty and grace alike. Foreboding, syncopated riffs sway against Moog-driven space and guttural bellows. The Return Of Magik’s songs stand alone as individualized post-metallic blends of genres.

RWAKE remains dually fronted: Chris Terry’s powerful vocals lay against Brittany Fugate’s visceral screams. Jeff Morgan returns to the drum kit, in addition to acoustic guitar and 12-string bass. Bassist/noisemaker Reid Raley, Sublett, and Judkins set an instrumental backdrop that is vast and engrossing in itself – quiet, contemplative passages often explode into gut-wrenching, doomed out distortions. The Return Of Magik, which features artwork by Loni Gillum of Minerva’s Menagerie and RWAKE, burns brighter and beyond the ferocity of the band’s already storied catalog.

Although the Magik may be bleak, the manner in which RWAKE revels in it can only be called a celebration.

“…a deeply engrossing emotional journey that balances earthy, cosmic and hellacious atmospheres with pristine acoustic guitar inter play, outsized doomy riffs and exquisite psychedelic sections that burst into cathartic release.” – Decibel Magazine

“Return Of Magik takes the band’s spellcraft into both more intimate and more cosmic places while they summon the monster riffs that have been crushing underground audiences for decades.” – Nashville Scene

“It’s hard for a band to come back after such a long time with something that lives up to the myth, but they’ve done it.” – Stereogum

“As psychedelic and out-there as it gets, RWAKE never loses sight of their roots here. This is clearly the work of the same band that turned heads all those years ago, but the additional years of experience and more adventurous sonic palette make it their most immersive record yet.” – The Quietus

“One of the most righteous and creative heavy bands of the last 30 years have woken from their slumber and delivered one of the strongest and most satisfying albums of their career… An incredible piece of work.” –  Blabbermouth

“The Return Of Magik is as advertised. It brings back RWAKE’s otherworldly daydream essence and makes you wonder how you lived without it for the past 13 years.” – Popmatters

“Monoliths like the 11-plus-minute title track prove fairly decisively that RWAKE’s uniquely graceful approach to a decidedly less-than-graceful style of metal remains as potent as ever, but there’s even more subdued beauty throughout The Return Of Magik, with passages that delve into folk and blues, prog and psychedelia, spoken word and even a touch of ambient Americana with its recurring use of slide guitar. It all just works together so beautifully, a mystical and melancholy return that was more than worth the wait.” – Treble ‘Zine

“For longtime fans, this is unmistakably RWAKE – uncompromising, exploratory, and relentlessly evocative. Yet, The Return Of Magik feels like something more than just the next chapter. It’s a statement of endurance and evolution, a fearless reawakening that drags the band’s legacy into bold, uncharted territory. As RWAKE revels in the darkness, we’re left staring into the abyss, transfixed by its terrible beauty.” – Antihero

“…an album of expansive highs and crushing lows. RWAKE are happy to combine powerful doom drenched distortion and carefully crafted moments of immersive grace.” – Distorted Sound

“…this is such a good comeback from the band after over 10 years and doesn’t feel like they missed a beat. While it’s RWAKE certainly in their comfort zone, the execution of their sound throughout this album is up there with similar bands of their ilk, such as Amenra and Cult Of Luna…” – Toilet Ov Hell

“…a striking comeback for RWAKE that… will be recognizable to those who followed their course the better part of a generation ago while introducing new listeners to the fold, most of all by highlighting who RWAKE are in its uncompromising, forward-thinking, distinctive craft. It’s a cohesive, engrossing, wholly realized work that’s an intangible meld of different players, ideas, styles, and times, so if you want to sum that up by calling it ‘magic’ – or ‘magik,’ as it were – then fair enough.” – The Obelisk

“It’s the return of Magik, in a crystal palace.” – Sputnik Music

“The music on this album (and any RWAKE album for that matter) feels ceremonial, almost religious. The tribal drumming of Jeff Morgan… adds to that feeling. Sludge metal album of the year. Nothing can top this” – Metal Storm

“They were always a curious ever-shifting beast, one with mystic themes and rawly organic production values, and this is still part of what they’re all about. With The Return Of Magik we’re getting pieces which communicate more directly, speak with intricately stated rasp and stammering enthusiasm to the point that this reappearance feels evolved, moreso than what they’d left us with back in 2011 with Rest.” – Mystification ‘Zine

“RWAKE have made an ambitious comeback… embracing both the band’s roots and their drive for new forms of expression and sounds, all demonstrated in an exciting release. Anyone who doesn’t shy away from modern sludge and is keen to broaden their musical horizons and challenge themselves should give this album at least a spin.” – Metal.de

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