Test Of The Iron Mind (album) - This album is the complete culmination of our time together as a band. It’s the album we always knew we could make, that represents who we are, what we stand for and what the band has evolved into since since it’s inception. From all aspects, including the songwriting process, crafting the visuals, translating what we bring live and collaborating with our friends we’ve made along the way, this record sums up what Iron Mind is. This is the Test Of The Iron Mind.

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More Pain - The record opener and focus track. It’s a nod or a play on the opening track from our 2012 LP Hell Split Wide Open - ‘Look Into My Eye’ which contains a well known and memorable line (plea) “..no more pain.” This is to be self reflective, suggesting that what’s been learned in the years between that record and this one is that things do not get easier, in our youth we might wish for our problems to go away, for a silver bullet, to switch off, - but wisdom is learning that pain and suffering are eternal and the solution isn’t to wish them away but to know that we can withstand pain, in any amount thrown at us. “No more pain? Fuck that - more pain! How much you got?!”

How You Get Down - The 3rd single of the record. While Iron Mind’s sound is hard and aggressive, we’ve always been a band that champions scene involvement. We’ve always provided the message that it doesn’t matter how someone contributes, as long as they contribute. That may have come in the form of a pit call, or a conversation at the merch table. Ultimately, hardcore is music for the youth and as we’re returning as somewhat elder statesmen with this record, we wanted to encapsulate that message in a song that was us speaking directly to the youth, the next generation. “Show me how you get down!” Meaning, we don’t make the rules, we’re not hanging onto the old ways, we want to see the New Breed. This is your scene, you create the culture, be empowered to do your thing. We want to be inspired by what you’re doing - so be empowered to do it!

Terrified - An emotional and personal song reflecting on the fact that life circumstances are thrown at you, not on your preferred timeline. Sink or swim.

Dog Will Hunt - This song continues the themes of the opening track, speaking to the acknowledgment that pain, abuse, suffering will come my way and no matter what I’ll find a way forward. Something that is innate, instinctual, the urge to survive and grow stronger from hardship.

No Fate - Another message to not only the youth, but anyone of any age who looks to Iron Mind for creative inspiration. Drawing from the famous line from everyone’s favourite 90s action/sci-fi film Terminator 2 “there’s no fate but what we make for ourselves.” Again, with the wisdom of age we all have felt empowered to make the art that we want to make, not only in this band with this record, but also in our wider lives (I’m a visual artist, Neil is a wildlife photographer for example). Perhaps we didn’t have this conviction when we were 18-19? And so the question we ask ourselves now in the senior position we have, do the younger generation of hardcore kids know the power they have in their hands to create new bands? Create art? Create the life that they want for themselves? This song is both a personal statement “Take a look at me, never believed, there could be days like these!” and a message to those listening who haven’t been told that they don’t need permission to create the life that they want for themselves, that it’s not just for the in crowd or the select few, one life, one chance etc. “Gotta leap anyway, it’s your life, it's your death, you’re afraid result’s the same.”

Test Of The Iron Mind - The eponymous track of the record speaks on several different layers. The first, is that Iron Mind has always had elements of self-reflexive lyrics dating back to our first release in 2008 with ‘The Sun Has Set’ EP and the track ‘The Iron Mind’. This song has been a live staple ever since it was released and speaks to many of the themes that ‘Iron Mind’ stood for when the band formed and those lyrics were written - and still stand for today. That being, first and foremost the ongoing struggle with mental health that many of us deal with - and acknowledging the burden that this struggle bears on us “...struggling, searching over time, peace, well being… the Iron Mind” Like I mentioned earlier, we wanted to ‘sum up’ who and what Iron Mind is as a band with this new record, so Test Of The Iron Mind became the record title early on in the process, as a nod to our history but looking at the topic with contemporary eyes. Being involved in the hardcore scene for 20 years, we have unfortunately had to experience the loss of friends and members to suicide again and again. This song asks the question why is this community touched by this particular kind of tragedy, it seems so often? It acknowledges that we aren’t given the right tools to deal with mental health and that many of us do not have the right support systems, being left to deal internally on our own “it’s always the blind who lead the blind”** The ‘test’ in Test Of The Iron Mind is us looking back on those original lyrics from 2008 and reflecting that the challenges don’t get easier, but with experience we can develop better tools.

Paid In Full - These lyrics reflect on the real cost and benefit involved in being someone of integrity always, who values truth and honesty no matter what, even when it isn’t convenient, consistently over time.

Eye To Eye - These lyrics are purposefully ambiguous and play with different ideas. Telling an antagonist to look at themselves in the mirror, while at the same time these same challenges could always be asked of the protagonist.

The Crucible - This song is about rebirth through struggle. Starting again after gaining hard fought lessons, learnings and experience - realising that these lessons are hidden and not offered to us freely by the systems in place. Burning bridges and moving forward in the face of adversity.

Solitary Realm - The lead single off the record. A song about recognizing the tendency towards self isolation and the necessity to move away from it or suffer further consequences, while acknowledging the difficulty in doing so.