Infernäl Mäjesty - None Shall Defy The Fact That I'm Unholier Than Thou

I could have sworn Cobras had done a review of Infernal Majesty's None Shall Defy a while back but I could not locate it for the life of me. Maybe it's been buried deep within IllCon's catacombs? Maybe it was taken off mysteriously by those mysterious aliens?

Perhaps Bigfoot decided to come in and pummel it completely from record? Maybe it was sequestered by the pesky folks up there in D.C. in a similar manner to what happened at Megaupload? Or maybe Alex Jones is at it again and elves came, worked their magic, and stole it?

Whatever the case, I was originally going to feature Infernal Majesty's second album, Unholier Than Thou, but why not feature both albums?! Saweet! Thanks dude!! (You know you will be thanking me later!)

You know what I like about this band? They did what Slayer could not. They continued producing sick ass tunes. They did not get watered down by the music industry. They didn't grow beyond their music and act like they invented the genre or anything of the sort. And on top of that, they did not become egotistical pussies (talk about undisputed attitude!). Don't get me wrong, I highly respect Slayer's first 5 albums. In fact, I love Slayer! I still consider both Show No Mercy and Reign In Blood as favorites of mine. I even have a soft spot for Seasons... and Divine Intervention was a solid album to boot! However, the Slayer of today is like a decrepit version of the Slayer of yesterday. They simply are trying too hard now and their music has suffered. But I'm not here to talk about Slayer, I'm here to talk about one of Canada's finest!

OK, perhaps a little more on Slayer for a moment... Some consider Infernal Majesty a Slayer rip-off. OK, that's true to a point. Slayer were highly influential. Many bands followed their recipe. In the beginning of Infernal Majesty's career there is an obvious Slayer influence and their tone and approach were parallel to Slayer's at times but they went beyond that by adding an element of (if I dare say) black metal, technical thrash, and later death metal to the mix (rumor had it Corpsegrinder from Cannibal Corpse was doing live vocals for them recently). With that said, Infernal Majesty are therefore not a Slayer rip-off. They continue to shred, they slay, and pummel the listener into oblivion... Something Slayer seemingly has struggled to do on recent albums.

The band itself originated from Canada in 1986, so that should be a testament to how awesome they are. I mean Canada has thus far produced some of the best music, including metal, period. Bands such as Gorguts, Slaughter, Exciter, Sacrifice, Kataklysm, Malicious Intent, Razor, Revenge, and Blasphemy all came out from the boreal forest and tundra that makes up much of our neighbor to the north. Maybe there is something to be said about the cold, windswept climate up there that produces solid, no bullshit music? Who knows.

Anyways, None Shall Defy happens to be in my top-twenty, possibly even top-ten albums of all time. Unholier Than Thou is also a great album that is highly underrated but it does have its' flaws. The track, "Roman Song", is probably their strongest on the album as it shows Infernal Majesty at their best, however there is something about None Shall Defy that simply has not been topped, by both their contemporaries and the band itself.

So rather than me blabbering on for days about how great these releases are, I suggest you check them out for yourself!

Here

Buy Here or Here

Last.FM / Metallum

Official Website

How much more 'metal' can you get?! Jeesh.

Canada is Just Plain Better at Music

It wasn’t until I started doing research for this article that I discovered how important the 1990’s were for Canadian music. During that glorious decade Canadians were producing some of the finest examples of contemporary soundings. While us U.S.ers were certainly churning out the hits, Canadians weren’t content merely to do the same thing well; they wanted to do it beauty. Canada took it from mere musicianship to pure artistry, honing each style into its philosophical essence as if distilling from an undisclosed variety of average grains only the finest of whiskys. Who can forget the saucy rock baladeering of Bryan Adams, who although he had a number of hits in the 80’s, managed Jesuslike to pinch off a second Billboard No. 1 hit in the early 90’s. It’s as if NAFTA resurrected his rock. There was of course also the reformulation of feminism into mass marketability which can be attributed at least in part to Canadian Sarah McLachlan, the songstress who stormed the adult contemporary field in 1993, taking her sweet grrl time to found Lilith Fair four years later. And then of course was perhaps the brightest of Canada's stars, North York native Snow who simultaneously pushed two genres, rap and reggae’ into previously uncharted territory and was also justly rewarded with a Recording Industry Association of Japan Best New Artist Award. The list goes on, but I think I’ve made my point. Texas may think they’re not to be messed with, but actions speak louder than words my friends, and Canada doesn’t answer to anybody, they already are their own country.

Still, there was one genre of music that dominated them all to define the 90’s. In the United States a lot of people, at least in my generation, look back at the Clinton Era with a sense of shame or bemusement. Sure, we wore a lot of stupid clothes and listened to a lot of shitty music, but hey, at the time it was all optimism and progress right? For the first time in 12 years we had a president that actually seemed like he might be a genuine bro. Well anyway, he knew how to burn one and liked to jam. Economically we were more prosperous than any time in the last two decades and it looked like an awesome future was literally right at our fingertips. Leave it to white people to be all depressed and despondent when they have it so good. And yes, the Canadians once again showed us how it was really done. No I’m not talking about Saints and Sinners because nobody was listening to metal in the 90’s. I’m talking about the band that boiled the Grungy slacker essence of poor-little-rich-boy Anglo-Saxon misanthropy into a potent sauce of pure despondency. I’m talking about Grivo.

Formed in Toronto in late 1995, Grivo came on the Grunge scene pretty late, but man they were fucking apathetic. Taking their name from front man and vocalist Dan Grivo, the band featured former members of a number of unremarkable Canadian alt-rock bands, but the new combination was magical. Unfortunately, as we know from far too much experience, a star that burns fifteen times as bright burns only 6.66 percent as long, and Grivo was no different.


Although the band had yet to record an album, by the following year they were already well known outside of their home country as one of the most nonplussed bands of the decade. It would be hard for me to describe it better than Wikipedia, so I won’t: Grivo became phenomenally “famous for their bleak lyrics, as well as a general indifference toward their audience, fame, and music.” Although rumor had it the band might be working somewhat half-assedly on some recordings, nothing ever materialized and it seemed that Grivo had all but disappeared and left virtually no record of their passing except for fragments of a single live performance in early '96.

Suddenly, as that same year was drawing to a close, Dan Grivo himself reappeared backed with an entirely new lineup. Making their debut on MTV, their very first  music video went on to win the Best New Video in the Jangly Upbeat Pop category for that year. And for a second time in less than 2 years, Grivo again proved that lightning strikes lots of times in Canada. They just does things better than we do up there.

  
Thanks to TooYube user Badjackcutter for the rare archival footage.