[Cover photo credit to Stephanie Cabral]

Hard Rock band A-Z is returning with their sophomore album A2Z² out on June 6th, 2025 via Metal Blade Records. The project is spearheaded by drummer Mark Zonder (Fates Warning, Warlord) and along with former Fates Warning bandmate Ray Alder on vocals.

“Nothing is Over” is the first single from A2Z² and “serves as a de facto statement” announcing their “musical M.O.” It’s the initial track Mark Zonder and guitarist Nick Van Dyk (Redemption) wrote when they began working on A2Z² with vocalist Ray Alder.

The album also features bassist Philip Bynoe (Steve Vai/Ring of Fire/Warlord), Italian guitarist Simone Mularoni (A2Z² mixing/mastering, DGM) and keyboard player James Waldo (Alcatrazz/New England).

Alder’s lyrics for “Nothing is Over” were inspired by H.P. Lovecraft‘s short story “The Outsider.”

The band members are prolific, as Zonder explains:

…when you find the right guys, you just let them do whatever they want. Everybody’s a seasoned pro and all the different ingredients come together, make it what it is. That live and recording experience allows A-Z to instinctively know how not to step on each other musically.

We’re all about the songs, the band, not what each of us does in it. It’s simple. It’s about the music as a whole. I guarantee you everybody’s into something completely different musically, and that’s where the magic to me comes from, taking different influences and everybody doing what they do to create A-Z. We’re not 20-year-old kids. We’re at the point where if you’re gonna go, just go big. And that’s what we’ve done on A2Z².