Awolnation (article)

Published by Mason Oldridge, 20 August 2025

Last year, Awolnation released their fifth album The Phantom Five, which was said to be likely their last. A year on and it seems they’re keeping to it, with nothing heard from them since (except their recent duet with Pendulum). So with a future not guaranteed, let’s instead look back to their first four records and subsequent EP to tell the story of AWOL.

Awolnation are an alternative rock band from Los Angeles, with electronic sounds deep rooted in their DNA and characterised by shouting vocals from frontman Aaron Bruno, who leads the project.

Debut album Megalithic Symphony was released in 2011 and was one of the first great successes of Red Bull Records. It contains their signature song Sail, an electronic rock anthem with distortion and strings. The diamond-certified track begins by excelling in its simplicity before growing to become cleverly layered, fully deserving its overwhelming success. The album also includes subsequent singles Kill Your Heroes, with a music video parodying children’s television, and Not Your Fault, with an accompanying claymation MV. Also appearing on the record is fast-paced Burn It Down and the more stripped-back Guilty Filthy Soul from the previous year’s EP Back from Earth. The album closes with the epic multi-sectional Knights of Shame. Drawing comparison to Radiohead’s Paranoid Android due to its through-composed structure, it starts with a continuous dance-like electronic beat with vocals from Bruno as well as an uncredited rap similar to Faithless’ Salva Mea and a female robotic voice, before developing into an acoustic section and concluding with a multi-instrumental finale. The complexity benefits the innovative closer and makes it a highlight of their first full-length effort. Furthermore, the deluxe edition boasts new soundtrack songs as well as the previously unreleased MF, a heavy energetic hidden gem with a strong electronic beat.

They released follow-up album Run in 2015. Bruno spoke of how this project felt like the first time he was creating music for a loyal and dedicated fanbase, stating “this success is totally new and foreign for us”. It opens on the title track and, if Sail is their signature song, then this is their magnum opus. Opening with electronic distortion, strings are then added before Bruno begins the refrain of “I am a human being, capable of doing terrible things”. We return to the instrumental music before a tense build up, culminating in Bruno monotonously uttering “run”. Then it drops, with a heavy guitar riff and angry cries, proving to be an effectively innovative piece. The rest of the tracklist is primarily heavy rock songs with underlying electronic sounds, including singles Hollow Moon (Bad Wolf) and Windows, interspersed with a few slower offerings, such as the piano-driven Fat Face, the acoustic Headrest For My Soul and the closing track Drinking Lightning.

Here Come the Runts is the third album, released in 2018. Bruno’s wife fosters puppies at their home and he explains how runts of a litter have to fight harder for survival, which also applies to the music industry, with him feeling like an underdog himself. It was recorded in Bruno’s home studio in Malibu. This record adopts a more organic approach, with the electronic elements taking a back seat, but this results in a more well-rounded end product. The running order starts with the title track before lead single Passion plays. The single is carried by the heavy guitar on the chorus and features a bold music video showcasing a bilateral amputee skateboarding. Second single Handyman is sentimental, Seven Sticks of Dynamite utilises acoustic guitar and Table For One was re-released as a duet with Elohim, while lengthy closing track Stop That Train is an epic finale, creating a sense of urgency before developing further into almost heavy metal.

In 2020 came fourth album Angel Miners & the Lightning Riders. Lead single The Best opens the record with its string sounds whereas Slam (Angel Miners) contains a dance melody. Mayday!!! Fiesta Fever is an energetic single featuring musician Alex Ebert, while California Halo Blue is a tribute to the victims of the California wildfires, a disaster that personally affected Bruno after his property was largely destroyed. This unusually emotive piece from AWOL also features a music video that covers the catastrophe. The subject leaves a somewhat unsettling effect as there is an unnerving juxtaposition between the luxurious lifestyle of California and the devastation that the wildfires brought. Pacific Coast Highway in the Movies, featuring Rivers Cuomo from Weezer, paints a happier scene of sunny coastal California thanks to its dancing keys and dreamy chorus, even if the lyrics oppose this. The final two songs, Half Italian and I’m a Wreck, are two of the heaviest offerings on the record. The former is rather sinister, then the latter unexpectedly speeds up midway through, building towards an epic (and sweary) finale. Angel Miners & the Lightning Riders is also one of AWOL’s more polished products with a clean production.

Three new singles were released across 2022 and 2023, which formed the Candy Pop EP, something of a precursor to the fifth album The Phantom Five, which is teased in the greyscale music videos. Freaking Me Out features a slick guitar riff, We Are All Insane inhabits trumpet-style synth, while the titular track Candy Pop is the deserving headliner. A fun electronic song, the single is reminiscent of AWOL’s earlier work and commentates on the addictiveness of pop music and pop culture.

Awolnation is an underappreciated act as Bruno delivers a truly unique take on electronic rock. Initially, it could be argued they draw comparison to the much wider known and commercially successful Imagine Dragons thanks to their shared drum-heavy approach, but a deeper delve will show that AWOL have their own unmatchable sound. If there is to be no more and Bruno really has gone absent without leave, then we can take comfort in knowing there will always be a rock solid discography already laid down.