INFERNÄL MÄJESTY
No God
High Roller (2017)
Rating: 7/10
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It’s hard to believe that this Canadian band has been around for over 30 years. No God is the follow up to their 2004 record One Who Points To Death, picking up where the band left off 13 years prior. The album channels a good deal of classic thrash reminiscent of Kreator, Sodom and classic Sepultura, to mention a few. Now, don’t get me wrong, Infernäl Mäjesty are their own beast, but the influences mentioned have a way of creeping into a lot of this record. Is that a detraction from the music Infernäl Mäjesty are making? Not at all.
‘Enter the World Of The Undead’ opens the album with just a hint of Sepultura’s Schizophrenia era, punching through. Infernäl Mäjesty pull off the perfect rager to open this disc with. No God is an exercise in well-crafted thrash. The band has figured out when to add melody, when to throw in blast beats, all to serve the greater good of the music. Songs like ‘Another Day In Hell’ and ‘Signs Of Evil’ are perfect examples of this, demonstrating how much this band has perfected their dark craft over the last three decades, knowing how to bring a song together and how to embrace their identity without resorting to “cut and paste”, so to speak. Infernäl Mäjesty doesn’t imitate, they demonstrate.
Is the band charting new territory with No God? Honestly no, but they don’t have to, they do what they do best – they explore said territory with a critical eye. Infernäl Mäjesty isn’t breaking new ground with their fourth studio album, they’re just doing it as good or better than a lot of bands in this genre. Remember, they were right there in the mix when thrash was in its heyday 30 plus years ago. That’s why it’s okay to mention Sepultura, Sodom or Kreator in the same sentence as Infernäl Mäjesty. They earned that right to be called peers alongside these metal giants. Thrash is a genre that’s been re-discovered and re-imagined over the course of the last decade by a slew of new, young bands trying to emulate their heroes, but in the case of Infernäl Mäjesty, they are who these bands are looking up to.
No God is an uncompromising metal record that you’d expect veterans such as Infernäl Mäjesty to make. The standout tunes ‘Nation Of Assassins’ and closer ‘Extinction Level Event’ showcase these Canadian thrashers as they continue their comeback in the metal realm. No God is a more focused and polished effort than 2004’s One Who Points To Death, and it’s good to see Infernäl Mäjesty growing and refining their sound. This record deserves your attention.
Theron Moore
