Iowa newcomers Infernal Instinct have crafted a diverse sound that embraces all corners of heavy music, from hard rock and metalcore to thrash and death metal, and they describe as “melodic, aggressive and epic.”
The Des Moines collective began back in early 2021 when vocalist Michael Fine met lead guitarist Ryan Davis. They brought in Sebastian Petty on rhythm guitar but had a hard time finding a drummer as, in Ryan’s words: “Drummers are hard to find in Des Moines these days. We ran into an issue where every drummer was already in multiple bands while others didn’t have a kit.” They eventually discovered Lucas Brown to buck the drummer trend before completing the lineup with Dan Inselmann on bass.
Describing the sound they’ve honed since, Ryan told us: “We take influence from various heavy subgenres, from melodic metal to metalcore, alt-metal to hardcore, and so on. We all tend to wear our influences on our sleeves and it definitely shines through in our music. We aim to take our listeners through a bit of a journey with unexpected turns, keeping you guessing while you discover our tracks one by one.”
Our latest taste of this is Infernal Instinct’s second single The Virtue, which was released in October. It opens up with stabbing guitars alongside a few “bleugh” screams, which give way to a lively riff and driving drums. More intense drums and a stabbing riff power intense vocals through a huge opening verse, which ends with more breakneck instrumentals. It drops into clean vocals over wild guitars before more heavy guitars and drums tee up another vicious verse. A second chorus gives way to spoken vocals, which end with the pace dropping down into big chugging guitars, doomy cymbal crashes and some wild, intense screams. But it suddenly picks up the pace to set up a final blast of the chorus before a powerful outro.
On the track, Ryan told us: “The reception for The Virtue has been overwhelmingly positive. It contrasts nicely with our debut single, which was more progressive, whereas The Virtue comes out guns blazing and pit-ready. It’s a bit different from our debut, so I think it helped us broaden our audience a bit more. If you haven’t heard The Virtue, expect something faster and more aggressive right out the gate, and don’t expect it to let up until it ends.” Check it out in the video here:
As Ryan alluded to, that follows on from debut single Transcending Madness, which starts out with light guitars before a funky little guitar lick. Heavy drums kick in as it builds into a verse of high-pitched vocals, which feed into heavier screams. Midway through, heavy repeats of “Bring back again” give way to a lighter section with chunky crushes of guitar chords, which set up a delicious flying guitar solo. That sets up a section of intense vocals that leads into a big final chorus. Check it out in the lyric video here:
The Infernal Instinct harnesses the band members’ varied musical interests, including the likes of Slipknot, Trivium, After The Burial, Lamb of God, Architects, Gojira, Wage War, Opeth, System Of A Down, All That Remains, The Devil Wears Prada Hatebreed, Bring Me The Horizon and Alice In Chains.
And on what inspires them to write music, Michael explained: “As an introverted person with a lot on their mind and a passion for music and lyrics, this is easily the greatest outlet for that energy which is otherwise difficult for me to release. I tend to write about topics close to my heart, such as spirituality, personal hardships, overcoming darkness, and general optimism about the world at large. Taking a more positive approach to metal lyrics can be challenging but provides a unique perspective that I feel is mostly absent in our community right now.”
There’s plenty more to come from Infernal Instinct, who recently played their first two shows and plan on getting more booked in next year. They’re also starting to write new material with the aim of getting back into the studio next year.
Ryan added: “This is just the beginning, and we’re going to keep grinding our way through the scene. So be on the lookout for us, and thank you to everyone who has supported us so far!”
You can follow Infernal Instinct on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, and check out their music on Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube.
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