Infernal Instinct

Yesterday was one HELL of a time!!!!

Shoutout to Dan Nelson for having us at his 4th Annual Birthday Bash with a STACKED lineup at The Chicken Coupe!!

Speaking of STACKED line ups, we’ll be back at it again at BACKWOODSFEST 2026 at with ANOTHER insane lineup including Heir of Sorrow , Nyhilist, Project 10-44 , Habeas Corpus IA , SILENCE ME and mose at thetalkshoplounge in St. Charles, Iowa; just 30 minutes south of Des Moines!!

Reminder, Backwoods is a FREE FESTIVAL with FREE CAMPING available!! All ages welcome and BYOB (21+)!!

Also can’t forget to shoutout Kandi Black for the sick footage!! 🙌🏻

🚨NEW MERCH🚨

You know you want to get yourself a badass Infernal Instinct hat!!

Come pick one up tomorrow Dan Nelson’s Birthday Bash @ The Chicken Coupe!! Make sure to get here EARLY to see ALL of these awesome bands!!!

4247 Arthur Ave
Des Moines, Iowa 50317

Doors 11 am | Music 12 pm to 10 pm | ALL AGES | BYOB (21+) | $20 at door

See ya there!! 🤘🏻

Two weekends, TWO FESTIVALS!!!

This Saturday, 9/19 we’ll be at The Chicken Coupe for Dan Nelson’s Birthday Bash!!! We’ll be playing with a ton of awesome bands including Soulcage, SordiD, Parabola, Sinnerholica, Death By Dream and more!! Doors at 11 am and music starts at 12 and $20 for a whole day of metal and hard rock!! The lineup is NOT announced or the same as the flyer so if you want to catch all the bands, get there on time for a good surprise!! 🤘🏻

Then next Saturday, 9/26 we’ll be returning to Backwoodsfest with Heir of Sorrow, Nyhilist, Project 10-44, Sinnerholica (yes, again 😎🤙🏻), Habeas Corpus IA and more!! Show is at 2 pm and this is a FREE SHOW at The Talk Shop Lounge in St. Charles, IA and this also includes FREE CAMPING!! Also… Backwoods is OUTSIDE again as it was intended to be🤘🏻🔥

Both shows are ALL AGES and BYOB (21+)

Can’t wait to see you all there, let’s go fu***ng crazy!! 😤🔥

Check out this cool interview we did with Vinyl Lollipops recently!!

Be sure to follow for more interviews with independent artists!!

Infernal Instinct
September 2026

Interviewed by:
Laura Williams
Vinyl Lollipops

Laura:
Thank you for your time. Please give us the backstory about how and when your band was established.

Infernal Instinct:
The band was founded in January 2021 by guitarist Ryan Davis and vocalist Michael Fine. We both went to Paramount Barbering Co in Des Moines, Iowa at the same time and met through our barbers. We vibed well and then recruited Sebastian Petty as our second guitarist. Afterwards, we went through a few different drummers and bassists until we added Lucas Brown on drums and Dan Inselmann on bass in 2023, solidifying our lineup.

Laura:
How would you describe your music-making process?

Ryan:
It usually starts with Sebastian or myself coming in with our guitar parts and then everyone jumps in and adds their own twist to it and then Michael will start coming up with ideas with lyrics.

Dan.
Yeah, most of our songs usually start with one of us coming up with a skeleton of something, and then we just play around with it and build it together.

Laura:
Do you have a favorite song you like to perform the most? If so, can you please explain why?

Infernal Instinct:
Oh boy, that’s hard…

"Answers" is probably the biggest consensus favorite. It’s one of our catchiest and best composed songs, and there are a lot of little parts that are just really fun to play, especially the tapping section over the chorus and the bass line in the verse. The breakdown also goes hard and those “OHs” are super fun for Michael.

"Promethean Fire" is another one that everyone really enjoys. It’s a fast-paced, intense thrasher that gets the crowd moving, and we feed off that energy. It’s also a song that’s changed a lot since the early days of the band. It originally started as a completely different song called “A Grim Reminder,” but we’ve grown a lot as musicians since then and restructured it into what it is now once Lucas and Dan joined. It’s cool to have a song that represents that growth while still being an absolute blast to play.

And then there’s "Transcending Madness", which was the first song we ever wrote as a band. Somehow, after playing it for years, it still hasn’t gotten old. It’s probably our most complex song, with a lot of dynamics and different sections that take you on a journey. The breakdown is always a cathartic moment, and the crowd getting into it makes it even better.

"Esoterica" is another favorite because the final breakdown is basically an excuse for all of us to lose our minds onstage, and then The Immortal Wonder is another honorable mention. It has this cosmic vibe to it but it’s also super catchy. Ryan also tends to jump into the pit during the breakdown, which he enjoys!

Laura:
Can you please spill some behind-the-scenes details about how you prepare for shows?

Ryan:
Well… A few of us will take a shot of Jeppson’s Malört before a show. And if you don’t know what Malört is, it is a complete, nasty battery acid that gets worse every time you drink it. I gave it to the guys once and told them it was gold tequila just to get reactions out of it. It just became a bit of a gag/ meme as we’ve recorded a few videos of us on social media drinking it just for fun. I guess we’re a little masochistic at times.

Laura:
Why call the band “Infernal Instinct?”

Michael:
I wanted our name to be something that would be clearly recognized as being in the realm of metal, but it still needed to fit our sound. We knew we weren't going to be Cannibal Co**se or anything like that, so I came up with Infernal Instinct. A name with perfect symmetry that hits hard and doesn't pigeonhole us into a specific sound.

Ryan:
We had a list of a ton of potential band names. Some were good, and some were absolutely terrible.

Michael had come up with Infernal Instinct, and that one stood out to me right away - even before everyone agreed, I knew we were Infernal Instinct.

Laura:
What genre of music do you consider Infernal Instinct?

Infernal Instinct:
We’re definitely a metal band, but we don’t really like labeling ourselves by putting us into a specific subgenre. We all like the same bands but tend to draw heavily from different influences. We tend to blend elements of metal core, thrash, death metal, prog, and even hard rock, and that creates Infernal Instinct. We do our best not to write the same song over and over again, so always expect the unexpected from us!

Laura:
What should fans expect to experience at a show?

Infernal Instinct:
High energy, fast yet melodic music, and a band that likes to engage with the crowd!

Laura:
Typical question here. Who has influenced you the most via music?

Michael:
David Bowie is the lord to me and is all that matters… oh and some death core s**t too.

Ryan:
I draw a lot of influence from 80s thrash metal along with early 2000s new wave of American heavy metal. Bands like Trivium, Slipknot, Behemoth, Lamb of God, Metallica, and Architects are some of my notable influences. I also listen to a lot of non-metal, including rock, hip-hop, even some k-pop here and there.

Lucas:
For me personally, my three biggest influences are Lamb of God, Gojira, and Parkway Drive.

Dan:
A lot of mine comes from early 2000s hardcore and metal core like Evergreen Terrace and a lot of late 2000s/early 2010s prog like Between The Buried And Me and The Contortionists.

Sebastian:
My main influences include The Devil Wears Prada, Currents, and Of Mice & Men.

Laura:
What is on your bucket list as far as the band is concerned?

Infernal Instinct:
Of course, we’d love to play a metal cruise or play the Tokyo dome, but honestly, we just love being able to play as many shows as we can and getting our music out there to as many people as possible. Just making a positive impact on someone’s life, even one person, is the biggest reason why we keep going.

Laura:
How can fans and future fans locate, listen to and buy your music?

Infernal Instinct:
We’re on all streaming platforms, including Spotify, Apple Music, etc. We’re also on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and BlueSky so be sure to follow us everywhere! We’re working on our debut album now, so once that’s complete and released, we’ll have those for sale too. Currently aiming for a late spring/ summer 2027 release.

Laura:
Are there any shout-outs or endorsements you would like to mention?

Infernal Instinct:
There are so many individuals to shout out but a lot of the local promoters in the Des Moines scene for giving us a platform, including Zach Weiss, Justin Runge with Productions, Dylan Stier with Sellout Promotions, Burke VanRaalte with First Fleet, and Aron Wilson with Metro Concerts. Alex over at Rock 108 for giving local music a platform on the radio!

Also, a shout-out to SOME of our favorite bands in the scene to play with, including Project 10-44, Tu’Mera, Nyhilist, Saving Sidon, and Human Anatomy Torture Experiment (H.A.T.E).

Laura:
Is there anything else you would like your fans to know?

Infernal Instinct:
We just finished up our first tour that started in Pittsburgh and ended in Chicago and then, a month later, opened for Nonpoint at Wooly’s in Des Moines, Iowa and have no signs of slowing down anytime soon!

Laura:
What’s coming up next for Infernal Instinct?

Infernal Instinct:
We just released our newest single “Promethean Fire” two weeks ago and will be playing Dan Nelson’s 4th Annual Birthday Bash at The Chicken Coupe in Des Moines, Iowa on Saturday, 9/19 with bands including SoulCage, January, Parabola, Sinnerholica, and more! Then one week afterward we’ll be playing Backwoodsfest at The Talk Shop Lounge in St Charles with Heir of Sorrow, Nyhilist, Habeus Corpus, Project 10-44, and more!!

We then have two announced shows in November, and then we’re taking a few months off from shows to finish up writing and recording our album and to spend some time with family. Lots of cool things in the works, so be sure to keep an eye out!

Laura Williams
©️Vinyl Lollipops, LLC
All Rights Reserved.

We are ONE WEEK AWAY!!!

Just 7 days away from playing Dan Nelson’s 4th Annual Birthday Bash with a killer, unique lineup!!

Come hang out with everyone at the Chicken Coupe and grab some BBQ from Give You A Belly Belly BBQ!!

🚨 SHOW ANNOUNCEMENT 🚨

We’re excited to be part of our Dan Nelson’s 4th Annual Birthday Bash Saturday, September 9/19 at The Chicken Coupe!! This will be a stacked lineup full of diverse bands as shown below!!

Soulcage
SordiD
Gravis Somnia
Izzy Dunfore
January
MORE CHEESE
Death By Dream
Parabola
Sinnerholica
The Sleepover
Guss Royall

Tickets available at the door for $20. Doors open at 11, music at 12!! This is an ALL AGES event and of course those of age can BYOB 🍻

Aaaand…. Food available from Give You A Belly Belly BBQ!!

Come help us celebrate Dan’s birthday with this dope lineup of bands!! 🔥

https://www.facebook.com/share/14tzt9FUUPs/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Thank you for the shoutout and love, Acta infernalis - Deathliger's Reviews!!!

Infernal Instinct - Promethean Fire (Official Music Video) “Promethean Fire” is now streaming on ALL major platforms!!Follow...

Help us in wishing the man, the myth, the legend (and mascot) Dan Inselmann a happy fu***ng birthday today!!! 🍻🤘🏻

UPDATED flyer for Backwoodsfest!!!

Sadly our friends in Visions of Terror and Human Anatomy Torture Experiment had to drop from the bill but excited to share the stage with Habeas Corpus IA again as well as Nameyourgod!!

Reminder this is a FREE show with FREE camping Saturday, 9/26 at the Talk Shop Lounge in St. Charles!! BYOB for those 21+!!

Some KILLER shots from last month’s show with Nonpoint and Saving Sidon by our friend Shae Muecke!! 🔥🙌🏻