Infant Island – Obsidian Wreath (Album Review)

Posted on January 26, 2024 by alexnikolasburgess

Infant Island – Obsidian Wreath
Released: January 12, 2024

Lineup

Daniel Kost // Vocals
Alexander Rudenshiold // Guitar, Vocals
Winston Givler // Guitar, Vocals
Kyle Guerra // Bass, Vocals
Austin O’Rourke // Drums, Percussion, Vocals

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Even at this nascent stage, Infant Island has refined their creative approach into a sophisticated art form. Experiencing the unvarnished purity of their self-titled debut, or the emotional gravity inherent within their sophomore release, Beneath, reveals a unique sonic identity, one that exemplifies the poignant realms in which their music exists. While it’s no revelation that Infant Island found fertile ground to expand into on their third full-length release, Obsidian Wreath, the remarkable aspect lies in the consistent and dynamic nature of the group’s artistic progression.

In a mercurial display that spins chaos and beauty in equal measure, Obsidian Wreath harnesses these otherwise polarising forces, channeling them into something deeply profound and affecting. The means might be raw and brutal, but the ends prove even more severe – it’s what’s to be expected from a record conceived during the peak of the recent global pandemic.

The dramatic essence vital to black metal/screamo thoroughly permeates the dissonant labyrinth that is Infant Island’s music. The tumultuous instrumentals flooding ‘Another Cycle’ are as likely to immerse you in throes of anguish, as to rip the air straight from your lungs. ‘Fulfilled’ then unleashes with a ferocity akin to a maelstrom, driven by the cascade of drums and guitar that shoulder the full brunt of cathartic rage underpinning it. And although the atmospheric ‘Found Hand’ is the closest we get to a reprieve, it’s promptly succeeded by the apocalyptic ‘Clawing, Still’, heaving with its seismic undulations.

Infant Island are incisive with their use of empty space, crowding the mix when forcing a sentiment, and freeing it at other places to let the arrangement express itself. It’s a proficiency utilised to expert effect on ‘Veil’, which showcases the band’s shoegaze influences front and centre, before wistfully transitioning into the seraphic ‘Amaranthine’; an arched composition that rides the wave of spirited crescendo into serene resolution.

‘With Shadow’ is marked by an unsettling quality, intensified by the serrated, buzzsaw bass guitar that provides its foundation. This is juxtaposed by orchestral-style synths, which imbue a sense of melancholic grandiosity to ‘Unrelenting’, meaning the piece both shimmers and roars at fluctuating points. The collaboration with fellow emo brethren Greet Death (‘Kindling’) features the most prominent inclusion of clean vocals, yet these do nothing to relinquish the music’s visceral potency; in fact, they impress an entirely distinct weight to the song.

At the heart of Obsidian Wreath lie the acerbic vocals of Daniel Kost; his impassioned screams on ‘Vestygian’ embody the voice of a world on the precipice of impending collapse. The immediacy by which he delivers his message is utterly compelling, and frightfully chilling – but, as has sadly become all too familiar, it is a plea we continue to ignore.