Beyond the Boys’ Club is a monthly column from journalist and radio host Anne Erickson, focusing on women in the heavy music genres, as they offer their perspectives on the music industry and discuss their personal experiences. Erickson is also a music artist herself and will release a new single, “Scars,” on February 4th with Upon Wings. This month’s piece features an interview with Lena Scissorhands of Infected Rain.
Moldovan metal band Infected Rain released their fifth studio album, Ecdysis, on January 7th. Created during lockdown, the new record covers the gamut of themes, from the strength and power of the female experience (“Fighter”) to tumultuous world events that took place during pandemic (“The Realm of Chaos”).
Infected Rain also just announced that they’re returning to North America this spring for a headlining tour. The trek kicks off May 10th in Los Angeles and runs through a June 9th date in San Diego. Look for tickets soon via Ticketmaster, and see the full list of dates at the bottom of this post.
For Heavy Consequence‘s latest edition of “Beyond the Boys’ Club,” Infected Rain vocalist Lena Scissorhands spoke with us about the new album, the challenges of having a career in the arts in her home country of Moldova, her experience as a woman in the heavy music world, and much more.
Read our interview with Lena Scissorhands below.
Describe the journey of writing and recording Infected Rain’s new album, Ecdysis, during the pandemic.
It was definitely different from any other album we’ve recorded. Because of COVID-19, we had to find new ways to work together remotely more than ever, because I live in a different country than my band. I would normally fly there for recordings, but this time, it was impossible. For a long time, I wasn’t able to travel, so we had to find ways. It was very tricky and challenging but definitely very informative and new and interesting for us, because we built our own studios in our houses and worked remotely. We learned so much about ourselves while doing so. We had time to invest in this more than ever, so I feel like this is why this album is so different.
In the beginning, we had to learn a new way to work. Everybody around the world had to stop working, in a way, and that was the more challenging part. When we actually rolled up our sleeves and learned the programs and did the whole thing, I think it was good for us. Some of the songs are about the pandemic. “The Realm of Chaos” is about what the planet was going through during this big depression during the pandemic, and not just COVID, but all the fires that were happening around the world and riots. A lot was going on, and it was scary. It was something I wanted to talk about. So, some songs were inspired by the craziness that was gong on.
