Description

Black vinyl with bonus 7″ and poster. Limited 200 copies

Vancouvers Infernäl Mäjesty have released Nigrescent Years Of Chaos, an album made up of their first three demo recordings. Their 1987 debut album None Shall Defy gained them a moderate amount of success and respect in the intersection of venn circles for speed, thrash, and death metal — as their sound nicely straddles the connections between these styles. But prior to this album’s release, there was a self-titled demo in 1986, which served up the original versions of four of the eight tracks that would later land on None Shall Defy, including the song that made me fall in love with this band years ago — the churny, grindy speed-thrash anthem “Overlord.” Full of gruff crossover-thrash barked vocals (not quite into death metal territory but perhaps a few steps down that path), chaotic guitar solos, and plenty of headbang-inducing thrash riffs, Infernäl Mäjesty also contained “Night of the Living Death,” “Skeletons in the Closet,” and “S.O.S.”; assimilating speed and crossover influences into an excellent example of west coast thrash (along the lines of early Slayer, in particular). Featuring the same line-up as the first demo and full-length, the band’s second demo Nigresent Dissolution came out in 1988 — with a pair of songs (“Into the Unknown” and “Hell on Earth”) that never made it onto an official album. Again recalling Slayer, especially in the guitar harmonies of “Into the Unknown,” these also present crossover-style vocals and tempo changes. Each of these songs also takes a bit more of a stab at death-style vocals: the former with a very deep roar in the background vocals in the chorus, and the latter using a demonic-voiced judge offering sentencing during a trial-themed sequence (incorporated into the song a similar way to what Pink Floyd did a decade earlier in “The Trial” and Megadeth would do a couple years later in “Captive Honour”). A couple of years later, the band had undergone several line-up changes: founding guitarists Kenny Hallman and Steve Terror remained, but they recorded their four-track 1991 demo Creation of Chaos with a new vocalist, bassist, and drummer. This included a new version of “Into the Unknown,” along with “Power Intrusion,” “What’s What,” and “Those About to Die” — each of which, like the songs from Nigresent Dissolution, were never available anywhere else. With 60% of the members replaced, the band’s sound nevertheless didn’t change too drastically, except that the vocals here seem a bit more growly than before. These final four songs — even on the new remastered re-release — seem a bit more lo-fi than the first six, and the mastering here is noticeably quieter. But nevertheless, this collection (which also includes rare photos and new liner notes by original vocalist Chris Bailey) serves as an excellent glimpse into the history of a band whose contributions to each of the genres they touched should be widely celebrated.

Track listing:
1. Overlord-from the Infernal Majesty demo 1986
2. Night Of The Living Dead-from the Infernal Majesty demo 1986
3. Skeletons In The Closet-from the Infernal Majesty demo 1986
4. S.O.S. -from the Infernal Majesty demo 1986
5. Power Intrusion-from the Creation Of Chaos demo 1991
6. Whats What-from the Creation Of Chaos demo 1991
7. Into The Unknown-from the Creation Of Chaos demo 1991
8. Those About To Die-from the Creation Of Chaos demo 1991

Vinyl single:
1. Into The Unknown-from the Nigresent Dissolution demo 1988
2. Hell On Earth-from the Nigresent Dissolution demo 1988