I Prevail

About I Prevail

I Prevail started in Detroit in 2013, which makes them relatively young in the metalcore timeline but old enough now to have weathered a few album cycles and lineup changes. Brian Burkheiser and Eric Vanlerberghe handled vocals from the start, with Steve Menoian and Dylan Bowman on guitars, though Bowman eventually left and Tony Camposeo took over bass duties.

Their origin story is both typical and unusual. Like many bands, they began posting covers online. Unlike many bands, one of those covers actually worked. Their 2014 take on Taylor Swift's Blank Space went properly viral, racking up millions of views and getting them signed to Fearless Records. It's the kind of break most bands dream about, even if it means spending the next decade fielding questions about Taylor Swift.

Heart vs Mind arrived in 2014 as an EP, but their first proper album was Lifelines in 2016. That record had Scars, which became a radio hit, and Stuck in Your Head, which did what the title suggests. The album showed they could write hooks that stuck around after the breakdowns ended. Burkheiser developed vocal issues around this time that required surgery, leaving Vanlerberghe to handle shows solo for a while. The experience reportedly influenced the lyrical direction of their next work.

Trauma dropped in 2019 and went to number four on the Billboard 200, which is legitimately impressive for a metalcore band in the streaming era. Bow Down and Breaking Down became setlist staples, and Gasoline turned into one of those songs that shows up on mental health playlists next to Linkin Park deep cuts. The album leaned harder into electronic elements and hip-hop influenced rhythms, which annoyed purists and expanded their audience in equal measure.

They followed that with True Power in 2022. The title track and Body Bag continued their evolution toward something that sits between metalcore and hard rock radio formatting. There's Still Fight in Me and Deep End showed they hadn't abandoned the vulnerable lyrical approach that made Trauma connect with people. By this point, the production had gotten sleeker, the choruses bigger, and the fanbase more divided about whether that was progress or dilution.

Currently, they're in that mid-career space where they're too big to be underdogs but too heavy for true mainstream acceptance. They headline mid-size venues, pop up on festival bills between heavier and lighter acts, and maintain a dedicated following that spans scene kids and people who just want something aggressive to run to. The Judgement exists in that catalog as a track that captures their current sound: polished, melodic, heavy enough to maintain credibility, accessible enough to keep growing. They've basically become the band that Blank Space cover suggested they might—professional, consistent, and occasionally surprising.

Their shows are intense without feeling like a parody of intensity. The pit's active but not hostile. Crowd sings every word of the chorus. There's actual energy exchange between stage and audience, not just noise. They sound tight live, which matters.

Known for Bow Down, Gasoline, Breaking Down, Lifelines, The Judgement

See I Prevail Live