Australian metalcore outfit and environmental awareness harbingers IN HEARTS WAKE are back with their first new music in three years. Known for inspiring change by using social/environmental justice and self-accountability as core themes throughout their lyrics, IN HEARTS WAKE‘s new single “Worldwide Suicide” is their most direct and impassioned statement yet.
The jarring video (seen below) begins with the intro segment “Crisis” which features a sample of Greta Thunberg‘s address at the climate strike in NYC last year recorded by vocalist/frontman JAKE TAYLOR. The video depicts a house on fire with each room representing an ecosystem, and in those rooms a human from every stage of life is under serious threat causing the survival of humanity to face its greatest challenge yet–overcoming the inertia and dysfunction within ourselves to affect real change. Its message of “ecocide is suicide” is a call for positive action and will see the band plant one tree for every 1,000 views it receives.
“The Antarctic has reached an all-time high temperature of 20.7°C,” says TAYLOR. “The Australian bushfires have burned over 12 million hectares of land, killing over 1 billion animals. The climate crisis is pounding on our door and we need to take action while there is still a window to turn it around. It’s time for profound systemic change as individuals and as a community. Last year I attended the NYC Climate strike and half a million passionate people showed up led by Greta Thunberg. It was the first time in a while that I felt so much hope for the future. When we gathered at Battery Park I felt inspired to pull out my voice recorder. Greta delivered an incredible speech. Some of the elders around me likened it to the time they heard Martin Luther King deliver his ‘I have a dream’ speech in the 60’s. One week later our track ‘Crisis’ was born.”
“We are aware that the ‘Worldwide Suicide’ video is confrontational,” continues TAYLOR. “We created this not to shock or cause despair but to incite positive action. In the spirit of this, the band has committed to plant 1 tree for every 1K views, restoring part of a vital ecosystem with the hope that every viewer and their descendants will one day enjoy its benefits.”
“Music is both our art and our platform. I feel we have a responsibility as artists to challenge the status quo. What challenges has the potential to create change. If we can change, then we can evolve.”