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Growth depends on honesty. When you confront your fears, anxieties, traumas, and past head-on, you gain the strength to step into the future. Eva Under Fire amplify this kind of open-hearted honesty through tightly crafted and transformational hard rock anthems. The Detroit, MI quintet—Amanda “Eva Marie” Lyberg [vocals], Rob Lyberg [lead guitar], Chris Slapnik [rhythm guitar], Ed Gawlik [bass], and Dave Miller II [drums]—have tirelessly grinded out of the Midwest and built a faithful following by delivering raw and relatable truth without filter.
After amassing tens of millions of streams, shaking the charts, and earning critical acclaim from Loudwire and New Noise Magazine, the band hold nothing back on their 2025 second full-length offering, Villainous [Better Noise Music].
“We just wanted to be honest,” Amanda affirms. “We’ve been through so much, and the music naturally got more biting and aggressive as a result. We’ve done a lot of traveling and growing up together. We’re acknowledging how much toughness it takes to make it out here, and we’re putting all of that on the album. We’ve learned there isn’t a right or wrong way to do this. As long as you’re authentic, people will find you and vibe with what you have to say.”
Audiences continue to connect to Eva Under Fire. The group initially paved their way out of Southeast Detroit with 2015’s independent Anchors, spawning the staple “Until Forever.” Following the War EP [2016] and Heavy On The Heart EP [2018], they served up their proper debut LP, Love, Drugs & Misery, in 2022. The standout “Blow” [feat. Spencer Charnas of Ice Nine Kills] gathered north of 22.6 million Spotify streams and catapulted into the Top 15 of the Billboard Mainstream Rock Airplay Chart. They landed notable syncs in acclaimed films like Sno Babies and The Retaliators—which also saw Amanda make her big screen debut. Not to mention, they emerged as the rare force equally suited to collaborations with Cory Marks, Thousand Foot Krutch, KAYLA KING, State Of Mine, Hyro The Hero, and The Funeral Portrait. Not to mention, the five-piece packed houses on tour and graced the bills of top-tier festivals, including Welcome To Rockville, Inkcarceration, and Sonic Temple, among others.
This diehard and dogged Midwest work ethic fueled their steady rise.
“We’ve slept in Walmart parking lots, and we still tour in a van,” she notes. “The first album cycle was a reflection of what we like to call our ‘Detroit Grit’. It allows us to find a way against a lot of odds. You have to really work to make it out of here.”
Eva Under Fire applied this same work ethic to the creative process. The group cooked up tunes out of multiple studios with various collaborators across the country. In addition to reteaming with Bernard Perry and John Pregler in Detroit, they wrote and recorded with Grant McFarland and Carson Slovak of Atrium Audio in Pennsylvania as well as Jon Lundin in Los Angeles. Simultaneously, they nodded to influences such as Make Them Suffer, Bring Me The Horizon, Spiritbox, and Nine Inch Nails. They fortified their sound by incorporating drop tunings. Expanding the emotional palette in similar fashion, Amanda drew on her career as a licensed therapist to foster an open dialogue among the band members, empowering everyone to be heard.
“We did things differently,” she reveals. “Personally, my experience is all about my family. I’m a woman in this industry, which has also shaped me in a specific way. On this record, I was asking the guys, ‘What are your experiences? How do you see this process? What’s it like for you guys?’ Everyone’s identity is definitely present.”
“The music is heavy, but all of the songs have strong messages,” Ed elaborates. “There’s a balance.” “Amanda is an amazing singer, so we’re always like, ‘Sing it, don’t scream it’,” laughs Ed.
Eva Under Fire ignite this chapter with the title track “Villainous.” opens with ominous guitar and an industrial-style beat. Trudging verses give way to a chantable chorus as her confession barely breaks a whisper, “I’ve become villainous.”
“It felt like the right bridge from the last record to now,” she notes. “This world is wild. You have to become someone who can survive out here. The world wants you to be nice and compliant, but you can’t afford to be all of the time. We’ve got to do what’s right for ourselves to stay alive. It’s about being in your ‘Villain Era’.”
Elsewhere, “My Own Name,” a distorted groove seesaws back and forth between squealing harmonics as Amanda’s dynamic range transfixes. Eventually, skyscraping vocals soar as the frontwoman reminds, “I know my own name,” over a cataclysmic collision of riffs and keys.
“‘My Own Name’ and ‘Villainous’ are lyrically similar,” she goes on. “‘My Own Name’ basically warns, ‘Be careful with fake friends and always remember who you are’.”
Pulsating glitchy electronics set the tempo for “Don’t Say I’m Ok.” It culminates on another climactic chorus punctuated by a double-barrel blast of a riff and a gnashing scream on the bridge.
“I’ve gone through a ton of grief and loss, and ‘Don’t Say I’m Ok’ is a representation of it,” she continues. “I wanted to scream it in an upbeat way though.”
As a whole, the record inspires looking deeper. “We wanted this to be an album of self-discovery,” Amanda adds. “Music is my therapy. I can tell people about my experiences through my lyrics. “
In the end, Eva Under Fire uplift by sharing truth.
“I want people to know they deserve to make their own way,” Amanda leaves off. “Go out into this unkind world and be unbothered. Just do your thing and your tribe will find you.”
