Henge

17 Apr 2025

Arts Club

Cult heroes – HENGE – are back with the release of their fourth album ‘Journey to Voltus B’, which they are taking out on the road in the UK this spring.

HENGE’s new album ‘Journey to Voltus B’ was released on January 31, 2025, which is exactly 10 years to the day from when the band gave their first live performance on planet Earth.

The band has gone from performing in front of around 100 people at that first show in Salford, Greater Manchester, to headlining Shambala Festival in 2024 to a crowd of thousands. HENGE are also past winners of Best Live Act at the Independent Festival Awards – so it is clear that Earthlings are warmly welcoming the band’s message of peace and hope.

Now, the band are bringing ‘Journey to Voltus B’ to the masses, playing shows across the country this spring with dates at the Brudenell Social Club in Leeds, Electric Ballroom in London, Concorde 2 in Brighton and many more. The full list of dates can be found below.

On ‘Journey to Voltus B’, the band offers a direct invitation to their audience to join them on their voyage to a faraway planet. After taking off from Earth on “Ascending”, the band get a gravity assisted speed boost on their journey in “Slingshot” before entering deep space in “Hypersleep”.

HENGE then make their approach to their destination in “Descending” before being introduced to the planet and its inhabitants in “Welcome to Voltus”. During the climax of the record, the listener will discover that the aliens of Voltus B have discovered the potential of atomic power – but the fate of their planet rests in the hands of the listener.

Side B of the vinyl version of the album has been cut in ‘parallel groove’ – with two tracks, both called “Power of the Atom”, pressed concentrically to each other on the same side of the record. One track tells the bleak fate of Voltus B after its inhabitants use their new-found knowledge of atomic power to make weapons – with the planet annihilated in war and entering a “Nuclear Winter”. The other track tells the story of the planet’s future after the aliens decide to use their scientific discovery to create limitless clean energy through “Nuclear Fusion” – providing an exultant conclusion to the record.

The version of “Power of the Atom” that is played, and therefore the fate of the planet, is decided by what groove the needle picks up after the listener places it on the record.

The vinyl version of the record has also been made using eco-mix, which is created by recycling the offcuts from other pressings. This more sustainable way of pressing records also has a ‘lucky dip’ element to it, as any combination of offcuts are used to create the vinyl puck, which can result in some unique and extraordinary colour effects.