Photo Zac Vinko / Story by Sosefina Fuamoli
Thanks to bands like SPEED, hardcore as a genre has been experiencing a unique resurgence in recent years, branching further onto mainstream radars and catching the attention of broader audiences.
In Australia, the love and respect for the hardcore communities that have raised these acts locally has never waned – in fact, they have become bolstered by each successful swing these bands have taken in pushing their own boundaries of sound and creative evolution. The intensity of the genre is matched by the intensity and pride that finds itself in the DNA of hardcore audiences and fans, new and longterm alike.
Perhaps it is this intensity and connection to messaging that has made hardcore such a formidable and unshakeable music movement – it is more than the music, it is about formation of culture and artistic expression that is welcomed from all backgrounds.
For Melbourne’s Iron Mind, this clear vision has been with them since their inception, almost two decades ago. Releasing their debut project, The Sun Has Set EP, in 2009, the five-piece quickly became synonymous with ferocious music and live sets to match.
Two striking studio albums later – 2011’s Hell Split Wide Open and 2014’s Iron Mind – brought the band to wider notoriety within the scene. Their 2014 release coincided with Iron Mind’s signing to Flatspot Records, another formative moment for the band who have always marched to the beat of their own drum.
Touring with groups like Backtrack, No Warning and Harm’s Way, Turnstile and SPEED across the years have developed Iron Mind into a tight and dynamic live band, but their own sustainability and longevity has always remained a priority for the band themselves. Deciding to play an annual show for local fans, instead of committing to full-time touring, Iron Mind were largely out of the music spotlight until 2023, when the band returned with their single, ‘Assume Your Ultimate Form’.
Says frontman Sam Octigan, the time out was not a result of falling out of love with the music. In fact, it was because Iron Mind loved the craft – they wanted to avoid falling into unhealthy patterns and burn out.
“A couple of people have asked recently about a period of a few years, where we weren’t touring or writing much,” he says, mentioning their annual shows. “That was because we didn’t want to burn out. We didn’t want to tour so much that we got sick of it, or that people got sick of us. We loved what we were doing, we just felt like at that time, that was the move to make.”
“We still love the band and we weren’t necessarily looking to do something else, it was just more about having self-awareness and the acknowledgement that we wanted to keep doing it, but in a way that allows us to do it properly.”
Octigan speaks with a calm sense of reflection in the lead up to what is set to be Iron Mind’s return to the hardcore music space, in a big way. The band’s long anticipated third album, Test Of The Iron Mind, has been percolating for some time though now, fans will be able to experience Iron Mind at a rejuvenated and ferocious new peak.
The album is ten tracks that has its focus trained on the future of the band and their sound, while acknowledging the foundations that they’ve built for themselves and as such, Australian hardcore music as a whole. Much of the album represents a new rawness from Iron Mind – something Octigan says was born out of the band’s desire to seek out their own creative elevation.
“We felt like with the last one [Iron Mind], we bit off more than we could chew,” Octigan admits. “We tried too hard to push the sound. We spread ourselves too thin in the writing process. With this record, we wanted it to be timeless, but we wanted it to sound contemporary as well.”
“The way we were discussing it with ourselves was like, “How do we write a record that sounds exactly like an Iron Mind record, while also evolving and elevating the sound?” We absolutely did not want to just rewrite an old record. We wanted to write a new record, but we didn’t want it to be too different; we wanted to acknowledge our original sound, and a lot of thought went into it.
If you didn’t know the history of the band, or if you weren’t someone like yourself, who has an ear for songwriting and creativity, you may miss it. Which is what we want, we just want people to enjoy the record. Internally, we wanted to just write a classic hardcore record, a classic Iron Mind record that doesn’t sound dated or out of touch. It’s got to be contemporary.”
This fusion is heard throughout Test Of The Iron Mind; from the title track, to other highlights like 'More Pain’, ‘Solitary Realm’ and ‘Look Into My Eye’, the band has been deliberate with each stomp, each massive swell and riff – this is Iron Mind, chaotic and hungry.
Yet, as Iron Mind has moved into different phases of life as individuals, the impact and influence of life outside the band was undoubtedly going to influence how they came back together to create such an album.
In embracing new music themselves as lovers of the craft, as well as taking time to reflect on their own journey and accomplishments within the scene, Iron Mind re-entered the studio with clarity and determination to make Test Of The Iron Mind unlike its predecessors.
“Don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot of beauty in a band of 18 year olds who have no idea what they’re doing, but it’s 100% passion and chaos upfront,” Octigan says. “That raw energy is honestly the fuel of the entire genre. For a band who has been doing it for a long time though, you can start to bring things together in a way that allows you to tell stories in a more interesting way; to bring different ideas together with more clarity.”
“I do feel like we’ve achieved that with this record,” he adds. “I think that’s perhaps what we were trying to do ten years ago, with the last record. We didn’t quite have the skills yet. Our first record was that “chaos record” I referred to earlier – that was great, but we literally had no idea what we were doing. It just happened. It does feel great to have the opportunity and the platform to make another record; it’s never guaranteed and it’s absolutely a privilege that we take seriously.”
For Octigan, Iron Mind exists parallel to an accomplished career as a visual artist. When we speak with him, his latest solo exhibition – ‘Path Dependence’ – is wrapping up a successful run in a Melbourne gallery; an unique insight into Octigan’s creative process, yet from a new angle.
He considers his career as a visual artist in the same way as he does his career as a musician: maturity is one of the best attributes you can have on your side. It’s easy to lean into the impulsive side of the artistic endeavour but for Octigan, remaining dedicated to pursuing projects in his own time, and in his own way, has ensured that the end product remains true to the art’s original intent.
“Maybe when I was younger I thought, “I have to reach this level of success, otherwise I’ll be told to get a real job.”” he offers.
“What I’ve felt over the years, and I think the success of Iron Mind is attributed to this as well, is that if you do it sustainably on your own terms, you can do it as long as you want. When you give yourself that space and breathing room; in that time, the maturity you gain is what leads to your best work. That’s what we’ve done.”
Now an artist, musician and father, Octigan views all of these opportunities and accomplishments as blessings – to be able to sustain a twenty year career with a band like Iron Mind is something that he is intensely proud of.
“I think every band is like this, to be fair, but when you’re young, you take the opportunity for granted because you’re never present,” Octigan explains. “You’re always looking to the next show, looking for the next opportunity and trying to build, trying to improve.”
“We’re in a spot where we’re able to stop and say, “Guys – we get to enjoy this, let’s enjoy this.” We also really appreciate each other as people. You really only get one chance in life to be in a band with the same people for twenty years, you know? You’re not in one band for twenty years, and then you start another band and be in that band with the same people for twenty years. It’s a once in a lifetime thing. You only realise that once you’ve put in that time and you’ve done that work.”
The return of Iron Mind with Test Of The Iron Mind, also marks the return of the group to live touring. Across June and July, the band will be covering Australia and New Zealand with national tour dates, featuring all ages shows throughout that, again, speaks to their ongoing desire to keep their shows and musical environments available to all fans.
Noting the recent success of SPEED and what they’ve been able to do for Australian hardcore being recognised internationally, Octigan is excited to see where this fresh wave of hardcore support can take things not just for Iron Mind, but for the current generation of artists coming through.
“We are proud and grateful,” he says. “There is our immediate community and circle of people who are at every hardcore show, who know every band and who know every lyric to every song. There are also other little pockets of music fans who know hardcore now because of bands like SPEED; they’re bringing hardcore to a bigger stage and bringing people in.”
“We’ve always been a band that certainly isn’t everyone’s cup of tea,” Octigan adds. “[but] at our show, you will see all types of people there. We love it. We didn’t set out to achieve that, I think that’s a reflection of our band. We’re not exclusionary, but we’re also just creating a space where anyone can come and experience it.
A band in hardcore music…it’s a group triumph, it’s a group experience that you get to share in together. We’re enjoying it more than we ever have, there’s an added layer of appreciation there. We’ve been around long enough to see the ups and downs of the scene; we’re able to step back and see that hardcore is on an upswing again. We’ve been around long enough to have seen it happen before; it just so happens that now, we’ve got a new record to share. It’s awesome.”
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Test of the Iron Mind arrives June 13th via Flatspot Records and Last Ride Records. Order the album - HERE
