Brisbane metalcore outfit Empire Within return with new music, the first since their 2021 EP 'Critical Mass', that highlights a creative shift as they embrace EDM influences alongside a change of band personnel.
Recently, the group revealed the departure of long-term vocalist James Ring in order to "reset my creative alignment and focus on new growth and visions in my life".Ring's final Empire Within offering was to write their latest single, 'Infinite Inertia'. After being diagnosed with ADHD/ autism, the track relates to feeling out of place while trying to find a space where you belong.
"It's all about pushing forward into discovering who I am underneath all the social conditioning, and the shot nervous system from years of overstimulation," shares James.
Atmospheric, doom-laden electronica, liquified drum & bass launches into a full-on assault of metalacore with throat-rattling howls melded to pop-licious clean vocals as 'Infinite Inertia' twists and coils like an enraged snake intent on destruction.
"We knew we really wanted to lean into more of the electronic and D&B space for our next run of songs after our last release, and we approached the writing process differently to make this happen," drummer Dan Northcott says.
Ahead of the song's release tomorrow (17 May), scenestr is amped to premiere 'Infinite Inertia' today. Enjoy.
After spending the last 12 months "locking ourselves away from live shows with the goal of just writing new music that we love", 'Infinite Inertia' is the first track to be released from these sessions; it was written, produced, mixed and mastered by the band's bassist Kieron Williams with the vocals provided by their previous bassist, and long-term collaborator, Sam Woods.
"We built 'Infinite Inertia' around the different synth lines and samples that you hear in the track, and we're really happy with how the two different styles blended together while still sounding true to our sound," Northcott says.
Although a heavy, intense track, during the writing and recording phase, Empire Within remained relaxed thanks to a little gaming R&R. "We let ourselves have a bit of fun when writing the track this time," guitarist Tim Molen says.
"Anytime we felt like we were hitting a creative wall we took a break and just played some good-old 'Smash Bros' on the Switch. It was meant be stress relief, but got pretty competitive sometimes."
