{"id":1585,"date":"1987-10-01T00:00:46","date_gmt":"1987-10-01T00:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=1585"},"modified":"2013-07-20T12:11:49","modified_gmt":"2013-07-20T12:11:49","slug":"feature-infernal-majesty-mf26","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/feature-infernal-majesty-mf26\/","title":{"rendered":"INFERN\u00c4L M\u00c4JESTY – Death Defying Metal (MF26, 1987) | Features \/ Interviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

INFERN\u00c4L M\u00c4JESTY – Death Defying Metal<\/strong><\/span><\/span>
\nBorivoj Krgin<\/span>
\nMetal Forces, Issue 26 (1987)<\/span><\/p>\n

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Infern\u00e4l M\u00e4jesty (l-r): Psycopath, Chris Bailey, Kenny Hallman, Rick Nemes and Steve Terror<\/em><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
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\nToronto is hardly what I\u2019d call a hot bed of metal activity, particularly when it comes to thrash metal. More than likely, most of you have at least heard of the more established thrash outfits from the Toronto area such as Razor, Sacrifice and Slaughter. But I doubt that many of you will even wink at the mention of Infern\u00e4l M\u00e4jesty, the latest and certainly one of the most promising acts Toronto has yet produced.<\/p>\n

Infern\u00e4l M\u00e4jesty first came to my attention a little under a year ago via their highly impressive four-song demo tape, which boasted one of the best productions I\u2019d ever heard on a death \/ thrash demo. Even back then, it was clear that this band was a bit more professional and talented than most of the other so-called death metal acts with demo tapes under their belts, and it seemed like only a matter of time before record companies would start taking notice. Well, they did, and earlier this year, Infern\u00e4l M\u00e4jesty finally sealed a multi-album deal with Holland\u2019s Roadrunner Records, with their first LP for the label, an eight-track affair entitled None Shall Defy<\/em>.<\/p>\n

But to find out more about Infern\u00e4l M\u00e4jesty and what makes them tick, one must get inside the head of Rick Nemes (Infern\u00e4l M\u00e4jesty drummer \/ founder \/ spokesperson) who, as some of you may remember, pounded skins for the band Rapid Tears a few years back, and even appeared on a couple of albums with the group in the latter years of their existence. I got the chance to talk to Rick some weeks ago during his brief promo visit to New York, and the first thing I asked him was, just how and when did Infern\u00e4l M\u00e4jesty get together?<\/p>\n

\u201cIt all happened about a year after I left Rapid Tears. I\u2019d been with the band for almost eight years, and I felt it was time for a change, so I departed from the group in early \u201985 and looked for other projects to pursue. I spent about a year fooling around and jamming with various people, before I finally decided to go off and start a brand new thing. I was in a band called Lethal Presence at that time, and when I left, I took their bass player, Steve Russell, with me. Within a couple of months, we hooked up with guitarists Steve Terror and Kenny Hallman, who were also playing together at the time, and after the addition of Chris Bailey (vocals) sometime in April \u201986, we were ready to start writing original material.\u201d<\/p>\n

What were your reasons for forming Infern\u00e4l M\u00e4jesty? \u201cWell, we just wanted to put together the heaviest band Canada has ever seen, as we felt that we had enough experience and musical background to really create something a bit different and a bit more musical than all the garbage that was coming out at the time. We made a conscious effort to present ourselves in the utmost professional manner, and we really took our time writing the material, which is something that a lot of other bands don\u2019t do. So, it was always our intention to be as heavy and as musical as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, anyone that has heard either one of the two Rapid Tears albums that has surfaced over the years will attest to the fact that they were no more than a straightforward, somewhat commercial sounding heavy metal band. Certainly a drastic change from the ultra-heavy death metal that Infern\u00e4l M\u00e4jesty deliver. This brings up the question of whether Infern\u00e4l M\u00e4jesty was formed for the simple goal of cashing in on the current popularity of death\/thrash metal. Rick? \u201cMan, death metal is nothing new to me. I\u2019d played death metal with Rapid Tears for the first five years of our existence \u2013 the sort of stuff that would be right up there with Celtic Frost now and it wasn\u2019t until the last couple of years that we started getting discouraged and wimping out. That\u2019s when those two albums were recorded, so that\u2019s why it seems like this is such a drastic change, although it really isn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, you\u2019re saying that you were playing death metal back in \u201977? \u201cOh, yes. As far as I\u2019m concerned, the first death metal ever recorded was the Sin After Sin<\/em> album by Judas Priest, and what Rapid Tears was playing in the early years was very similar in style to early Priest \/ early Sabbath<\/a>. If you listen to any of today\u2019s so-called death metal bands, you will realize that they\u2019re really not doing anything all that different from what was done ten years ago. The only thing that\u2019s new is the speed factor and the growling vocals, but the riffs are the same, and the song structures are the same. So, you can\u2019t say that we jumped on the thrash bandwagon, \u2019cause I\u2019ve been into this sort of stuff for years and years.\u201d<\/p>\n

What about the glam look that you were sporting in some of your early shots, with make-up and all? \u201cThat was just an experiment on our part. We were supposed to come out looking \u2018evil\u2019 and \u2018larger than life\u2019, but I think we ended up looking rather silly. I\u2019m sorry if people get the wrong impression, but I want to make it clear that we are not posers, and we are not a glam band by any means. I think that our music speaks for itself.\u201d<\/p>\n

So how did you come to be involved with Roadrunner Records? \u201cIt was quite simple, actually: we sent them our demo, they liked it, they offered us a deal, and we accepted it. We got a few other offers from various independent record companies, but we felt that the Roadrunner offer was the best one.\u201d<\/p>\n

The first release under this agreement, of course, is the None Shall Defy<\/em> LP. Are the band happy with the final result? \u201cOh, yeah. I mean, for the time and money that was put into it, I don\u2019t think that we could have gotten a better product. Obviously, our next release will be far superior, both in terms of the material and sound-quality, but None Shall Defy<\/em> is a record that we\u2019re all proud of.\u201d<\/p>\n

Listening to the material on None Shall Defy<\/em>, my guess would be that Slayer<\/a> and Mercyful Fate were indeed responsible for much of Infern\u00e4l M\u00e4jesty\u2019s sound and style \u2013 am I right? \u201cNo, not really. Of course, we love both bands dearly, but I really think that we\u2019ve developed, or at least started to develop, our own style with this album. Both Slayer and Mercyful Fate have been influences, but we also get inspiration from older bands such as Black Sabbath and Judas Priest. We listen to all kinds of metal.\u201d<\/p>\n

What about your lyrics? With titles like \u2018Satan Our Saviour\u2019 and \u2018Night Of The Living Dead\u2019, you couldn\u2019t exactly say that you\u2019ve opted for an original lyric approach, could you? \u201cMaybe not, but I feel that our lyrics are a little more involving and in-depth than those of most of our counterparts. Steve Russell really researches his subject thoroughly before he starts writing the lyrics for a new song, and I don\u2019t think that his lyrics sound childish or idiotic. Besides, I don\u2019t think that we could start singing about flowers tomorrow and get away with it; it just doesn\u2019t fit the music we play. Then again, who knows what we might do on our next album \u2013 we might even write a song about fast racing cars or something like that as a joke. You\u2019ll just have to wait and see.\u201d<\/p>\n

So what\u2019s the gig situation like with Infern\u00e4l M\u00e4jesty? Do you have any tours lined up to promote the album? \u201cI doubt that we\u2019ll be doing a major tour until after our second record. We will, however, try and play a few local shows here and there to see how things are going before we commit ourselves to a long tour.\u201d<\/p>\n

So you\u2019ve never played live before? \u201cNot as Infern\u00e4l M\u00e4jesty, no. But we have all had lots of individual experience with our previous bands, so I don\u2019t think that there\u2019ll be problems once we get on the road. We made a point of not doing any local shows before our album is released, because we want people to be familiar with our material before they come out and see us, so that they can enjoy the show more. We want to make our concerts a bit special for our fans, and we certainly don\u2019t want to burn ourselves out by playing in front of the same crowd for too long.\u201d<\/p>\n

Do you feel that you have a disadvantage by basing yourselves in Toronto? \u201cMost definitely! That\u2019s exactly why we were so happy to have landed a deal with Roadrunner, as they can give us a lot more promotion outside Canada, especially Europe and the States. You see, Toronto is not a very big city, and there\u2019s just not enough fan support there to keep a band like us going. We are much more concerned about achieving success in the States and Europe, where we get most of our mail from and we seem to be really popular. Having said this though, we will always consider ourselves a Canadian band, and it is very unlikely that we will be making a base change in the near future.\u201d<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve done quite a lot considering that you\u2019ve been around for only 15 months or so, but where would you like to see Infern\u00e4l M\u00e4jesty go from here? \u201cWell, I can\u2019t say exactly where we\u2019ll be in a year from, now, but it\u2019s our goal to become one of the world\u2019s biggest and most influential metal acts. We\u2019re not interested in being a popular cult band for the rest of our lives; we want to go further \u2013 past the Slayers and Megadeth<\/a>s of this world and up there with Judas Priest and Black Sabbath \u2013 and we are planning on working our asses off to get there. We\u2019ll do whatever it takes to reach our goal, and I\u2019m confident that it will happen for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whether or not Infern\u00e4l M\u00e4jesty get what they\u2019re striving for in the music business remains to be seen, but one thing\u2019s for sure: they have just released, one of the top debut thrash LPs of 1987 in None Shall Defy<\/em>, and they have a very bright future ahead of them. I for one hope that they will maintain their sense of professionalism and stick to the songwriting style that has made None Shall Defy<\/em> such an impressive debut. I have a feeling that we\u2019ll be hearing a lot more from these guys in the years to come.<\/p>\n

Interview taken from Metal Forces, Issue 26 (1987)<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

INFERN\u00c4L M\u00c4JESTY – Death Defying Metal Borivoj Krgin Metal Forces, Issue 26 (1987) Infern\u00e4l M\u00e4jesty (l-r): Psycopath, Chris Bailey, Kenny Hallman, Rick Nemes and Steve Terror Toronto is hardly what I\u2019d call a hot bed of metal activity, particularly when it comes to thrash metal. More than likely, most of you have at least heard […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,83],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1585","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-features","category-infernal-majesty"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1585","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1585"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1585\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13154,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1585\/revisions\/13154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}