“I challenged myself to let the song kill me”: Infant Island on their crushing new album, fighting apathy with activism, and an unlikely blood ritual

“I’ll be in a new city for the first time, fucking completely isolated, sad, depressed, contemplating the void… and the sweetest person will come up and tell us that we changed their life for the better. It’s so good, because it makes so many painful moments worth it.”

Infant Island drummer Austin O’Rourke has been asked by Kerrang! to pull some positives out of their music, because – in the best possible way – to spend time with the Virginian metallers both in-person and on record is to receive a reminder that all is not well.

Joined by guitarist and co-vocalist Alexander Rudenshiold, the pair are also talking K! through the process of creating their stunning new album, Obsidian Wreath, which has been venerated in metal and punk circles since its release. An unrelenting, grandiose mix of black metal, shoegaze and hardcore, its apocalyptic themes were only emphasised when the recording process began with the band “masked up” during the pandemic.

“I challenged myself to let the song kill me, you know?” laughs Austin. “By the end of recording it, I was gasping for air and needing a hug.”

“When I was writing lyrics, I was thinking about the larger systems that we have to interface with all the time,” adds Alexander. “Found Hand is about feeling alienated from labour, but also socially, in isolation or whatever… We’re interested in making music that is resonant with these larger, ongoing feelings.”

“The energy that we’re channelling is interesting,” says Austin, “because the glimmer of hope is humanity gaining coherence.”

Despite their music being a broadside against societal ills and despairing about existential threats such as climate change, the duo – like their bandmates – are not depressed into inaction. Like their cohorts, both are committed activists, taking action to empower both professional musicians and wider social causes.

This included donating the proceeds from their Compilations 1 release to help those affected by the George Floyd protests. “I think most of us were on the streets at the time,” says Alexander. “We have friends who were arrested… It was just a no-brainer. We all believe very strongly in contributing what you can.”

He name-checks the work of the Union of Musicians and Allied Workers and lobbying group Future Music Coalition as forces for good, when asked about the financial realities of being in a band seemingly becoming ever-more precarious.

“I don’t want to sound like a pity party, but even getting enough money to rent a van is a challenge,” he admits.

Still, ahead of their latest U.S. trek, which is due to begin in April, the road is clearly where Infant Island continue to enjoy some of their most memorable moments.

“When we played St. Stephen’s in Washington, DC, the original ‘punk church’, it was wild just being there,” grins Austin. “I gashed my hand open and some of my blood dripped on the floor. I don’t know what ritual I completed by donating blood to this punk church, but I feel maybe that’s what’s responsible for Infant Island’s success.”

Obsidian Wreath is out now via Secret Voice. Their U.S. tour starts on April 6

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