Interview by Kris Peters
Musical bonds forged over many years in the industry are almost an essential part of surviving and thriving in the cut-throat world of music.
While friends and fans come and go, the mutual respect afforded band members and their bandmates is a constant despite the many troughs associated with the highs and lows of an industry that is fickle at best. It becomes an us against them mentality where only the strong flourish and is difficult to fully appreciate from anywhere but the inner sanctum.
But it's there.
And when that tether is severed for any reason, the resulting fallout can be too much for bands to bear.
Which is why when long-time bass player and clean vocalist Kyle Erich announced his intention to leave In Hearts Wake earlier this year, the band were faced with a myriad of possibilities, with not all of them potentially returning a positive outcome.
Rather than rush into finding a replacement, In Hearts Wake decided to push forward with plans for the next album, keeping things more in house and producing music that reflected their current position and state of mind.
The result is Incarnation, which will be unleashed on an unsuspecting world on July 12. Far heavier than anything put out before by the band, Incarnation showcases are a more direct approach from the metalcore outfit, with the emphasis more on the harsher side of the light and shade spectrum than the light.
But Incarnation is more than just a fresh beginning for In Hearts Wake. It also serves as the shadow counterpart to the band's debut album Divination, providing a previously unknown link between the birth of continued momentum that drives this group of now four individuals.
With a September album promotional tour which features King810, Paleface Swiss and Gravemind, things are rapidly heating up for In Hearts Wake with no respite predicted for their near future.
So, snatching the opportunity while we could, HEAVY sat down yesterday with frontman Jake Taylor to find out more.
"It's a culmination of our career since we were teenagers," he offered. "I think this is our sixth record and essentially our first as a four-piece, and it acts as a sequel to Divination, which came out twelve years earlier. It tells the other half of the coin."
We ask Taylor whether he is feeling anxious, nervous or excited with the release date so close.
"None of those things," he smiled. "It's more like a hurry up, let's go thing. Get everyone up to speed is really where it's at. There's no anxious or nervousness. I know how it plays out. I know how it sounds, I know how it feels. I can't control what everyone else thinks. I just wanna get it out there so we are all on the same page."
In the full interview Taylor discusses Incarnation from a musical point of view, making an album for the first time without Kyle, the decision to write and record this album as a four-piece, some of the things missing without their former bandmate, how Incarnation connects with Divination, the tarot card theme of the album, what to expect, their upcoming Incarnation tour, future plans and more.
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