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September 7, 2008 |
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Brian Langley
March 2006
By Tony Antunovich
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The last time METALEATER caught up with Vancouver's hellish beast INFERNAL MAJESTY, new lead vocalist Brian Langley had only just recently taken over from longtime frontman Chris Bailey. Langley talked about how he landed the spot and made it very clear that he was more than up for the task. Several months have since passed and now he and the rest of the band are looking to the future. For several months now, they've been hard at work on their fifth studio album, "Systematical Extermination", which is being forged meticulously in a Vancouver recording studio. METALEATER had a chance to hear some of the new music, and we can tell you that it is heavier, more brutal, and more sophisticated than anything INFERNAL MAJESTY have ever done in their near 20-year career. We sat down with Langley to discuss the progress of the new album and what their plans are for its release. As Langley describes, its significance is great, and if the sound of the album is any indication, INFERNAL MAJESTY are coming back stronger than ever - with a vengeance.
The new music sounds really good. Can you give us an update on the whole situation with the recording of the new album?
So far we have four of the eight songs done; we're thinking about doing two instrumentals... like what was done on "None Shall Defy", like "R.I.P." and "Path Of The Psycho". We pretty much recorded all of the guitars and then we sent it back to Montreal for J.F. (Dagenais - KATAKLYSM). We're trying something different this time. We're demoing the entire album and then we're going to sit on it for a couple months to listen to it because everybody's always done it. You listen to it and then when it's done - and there's nothing you can do to change it - and then about a month later you go, "Oh. Should have done this!" So this time we're going to demo the whole album and sit back and listen to it and say, "Okay, we should have done this!" Then we'll go in and do that and then that will be the album. We've recorded seven of the eight (songs) and four of them are in the state that "Systematical Extermination" is. So they're pretty much done. Those are the ones you heard. Just play it by ear. He has done the demo and wants to do the whole thing. He's already made the effort so it's a safe bet that he wants to do it. When he first told us that he wanted to do it, at the time I think he was actually putting doing the next CRADLE OF FILTH album on hold to do ours first 'cause that's how much he believes in the band. He heard "One Who Points To Death" and he was like, "Oh man Kenny (Hallman - guitar)! I could have made this smoke!" And you listen to "Systematical Extermination" - that smokes.
So when do you think you guys will get to the point where you are happy with the demoed songs and go ahead with recording the album?
Well, we're hoping that it's done before this summer, that way we don’t miss out on another summer of touring like we did last year. We were supposed to go out on tour last year. We were going to be on this tour with NUCLEAR ASSAULT and HIRAX in Europe, I think, and we were going to play the Graspop festival in Belgium with IRON MAIDEN. What do we get told? "Ah, sorry guys. We can't send you out on the road. We want the next new album out of you." (laughs)
Is the album cover done yet?
No, it's not done yet.
Do you have any ideas for it?
(Smiles) Absolutely! I'm glad you asked. Obviously you can tell by now that I've researched this band a lot. I figured if I'm going to be a part of it, I have to know what it's all about. I have trinkets and toys that say "INFERNAL" on them that most of the other band members don’t even have. My major concern with the new album cover artwork was IRON MAIDEN has "Eddie". The creature on the front of "None Shall Defy" - I guess it's a dragon. Back in 1987 when they (the band) hosted the Power Hour on MuchMusic, they had a contest "Name That INFERNAL Monster", and I think the name ended up being "Deadolas". Okay, so that happened; '91 "Creation Of Chaos" - I've seen what the cover of that looked like. He wasn't on there anywhere. Then on "Unholier Than Thou" - nowhere to be seen. "One Who Points To Death" - sure there is a monster on it, but it's nowhere near like the INFERNAL monster. It's like a Gargoyle. I asked the guys, "What the hell is the point of having a mascot if he's never used?" So this next album is going to feature that guy on it. He's not going to be breaking out of the cover like on "None Shall Defy", but he's going to play a role in the cover. We're still throwing ideas around through the group, but I think what we more or less settled on, which by all means could change again, is having the INFERNAL monster opening up the gates to hell. I think it's a great idea. Well, maybe not the whole gates of hell thing, but having the mascot on the next album to actually validate the mascot's existence.
It could also validate and signify the resurgence of INFERNAL MAJESTY - a new beginning, a new singer, a new vision, a new path - things like that.
Yeah. Don't get me wrong, I love "None Shall Defy" For its time, it's an awesome album, but I think there are too many people that are still living in '87. Kenny and Steve (Terror - guitar) were there when that album happened. They were the first people to say, "We want to progress. We don't want to regress." I think that's what this album is. It's definitely a huge progression. It's not like we're not heavy anymore. If anything, I think we're even heavier. I've played the demo for you; I've played it for a couple of my other close friends, and all of them say to me, "Holy shit, Brian! That's not INFERNAL MAJESTY anymore!" And I'm just like, "What do you mean?" They're like, "That's not INFERNAL MAJESTY! That's fuckin' INFERNAL MAJESTY on steroids!" (laughs).
(laughs)
But back to my rant on the new album and INFERNAL MAJESTY on steroids - and that's the music on steroids not the players (laughs). I've noticed that when we posted "Systematical Extermination" up (online), out of a rating of 5, so far I think it's at 4.7. The first day we put it up at six in the morning; at five o'clock that night, there were so many downloads that averaging them out, there was a download a minute that day, from 6AM to 5PM. They came from all over the world. Everything that I heard was good, except for a couple of things, and all the bad things were all the same. Like "What is this new way of modern Metal or Black Metal crap?" And it's like, "That's not Black Metal!" Not at all. Blackened Thrash, maybe. And of course at the bottom of all these posts, there are always the mandatory "None Shall Defy!!!!!!!!!!!", right? Yeah, it's great that you love that album; it was 20 years ago… It's a good thing I'm saying this because I'm sure there are a lot of people that are going to be wondering. NO! There will NEVER EVER be another "None Shall Defy" record! We're not going to rehash history. Again, we're moving forward. We're all proud of "None Shall Defy"; sure I might come across as being pompous or whatever because I wasn't around in the band then; but no, we're not going to repeat that. I can sing just like (Chris) Bailey (ex-vocalist) did on "None Shall Defy", but if you want to relive "None Shall Defy" the closest you’re ever going to get it to see us live. That's the only time.
Do you think that fans expect that? Do you think that there are fans out there that really want that era back?
Well, yeah. There's a part of me that wants the "Appetite For Destruction" GUNS N' ROSES back, but I know myself that it's not going to happen. It would be great, but if they all got back together again, do you think they'd sound like that? No. They're musicians; we're musicians; we're all progressing. Unlike METALLICA; I'm not really a fan of their progression, whereas with INFERNAL MAJESTY, I think we just keep getting heavier and heavier. Everybody is getting up in age; you'd think that we'd be slowing down and getting softer (laughs); we're not. We just keep getting heavier and heavier. What band that's been around for 20 years is heavier than when they started? You know, I can't think of one. Again, we all love "None Shall Defy"; it was 20 years ago, come on! If you don't want to be a fan of the way we sound now, so be it. But we are INFERNAL MAJESTY and if you want to hear songs off the "None Shall Defy" album, we'll play them. As you know, my vocals change quite a bit in the demo and that, and for anybody that has seen me singing with INFERNAL, they know that when there's a song off the "None Shall Defy" album, whether it be the title track or "Skeletons In The Closet" or "Anthology Of Death" or "S.O.S." or "Overlord" or whatever, I sing slightly different. It sounds closer to that album because I don't want to stray too far away from that, because IT IS classic and I do have respect for that album. I do have respect for fans that love that album. I'm a fan; I love that album, you know. So I sing it closer to that style. Again, I could do it bang on, but it keeps it fresh. We're starting to incorporate songs off of "Unholier Than Thou" back into the set - the reemergence of the "Roman Song" finally (laughs). We're working on a couple of other songs off that album, which you'll be surprised at is that at upcoming shows, we'll just pull them out of our hats. Bailey sang differently on that album too; I sing differently when I sing songs of that album. "One Who Points To Death" is the easiest album for me because the way Bailey sings on that is closer to my vocal style, which is the reason why we put the track "Systematical Extermination" up (online) first - to give the listener kind of familiar ground. But at the same time, we're giving them a little bit more. For those that like that song, you're going to love the rest of the album. I'm really looking forward to when it comes out. I think a lot of people's heads are going to spin and go "Holy shit!" At the same time, I know there is going to be the backlash - "This isn't INFERNAL MAJESTY anymore. This isn't the band I remember 20 years ago." (laughs) I have to say this so that everybody knows: I watched when Kenny and Rick Nemes (ex-drummer) hosted the Power Hour on MuchMusic in '87. INFERNAL MAJESTY started in April 1986. This coming April will be the actual 20-year anniversary of INFERNAL MAJESTY, and we're still going strong. We have the show on March 25 at the Astoria (in Vancouver) with DEAD JESUS from Alberta and Vancouver's INHUMAN. That's pretty much the 20-year anniversary show. So we're looking to do something special.
Can you reveal any plans that you have for that?
Yeah, a little bit. Come the March 25th show, we're going to play "Overlord" (from "None Shall Defy"). I love playing songs off there to, but again - progression; it's key. There are a lot of songs that we don't play that I wish we'd play. I'm working on working them into the set. I don’t think they've ever played "Virgin Blood Tastes Purest At Night" off "One Who Points To Death". We're going to start playing that song live. I'm still learning some of the songs but they're getting tired of playing the same songs, and I can see that. 20 years later, we know we HAVE to play the song "None Shall Defy" every show; it's a must! People feel cheated if they don't hear that song. And maybe some people feel cheated if they don't hear "Overlord" (laughs).
Is it going to be a longer set this time?
Well, DEAD JESUS is coming into town; they can headline. INFERNAL headlined the entire tour across Canada right, so they're the out of town band and it's like "Hey, we're opening for you guys." But our set is going to be a little bit longer than the OVERKILL set (September 15, 2005 at Richard's On Richards in Vancouver) for sure. If I get my way, we'll play at least one song off every album. I think we've got two off the new album, "Systematical Extermination". We like playing the new songs live. With the new demos/songs - especially on the song "Systematical Extermination" - we're not relying on just sheer speed and force; there's technicality in there. The time changes are seamless. With the vocals, sure I'll say they're a little overdone, but for the most part, like the main vocal tracks, you take away all the backgrounds that I do in there, and with those main vocals, maybe I'm up and down the scale than Bailey would have been. But I think if Bailey would have been singing on this next album, he'd be doing it very similar to the way I'm doing it because, again, I listen to all the albums all the time - in no particular order - and it's just a natural progression for vocals. Even when "One Who Points To Death" came out, it's still Bailey on vocals, but people were still screaming for another "None Shall Defy".
Why would people want that though? It's okay to use the foundation and build upon it, but to repeat it?
Every album that INFERNAL has ever put out has progressed while maintaining their integrity and staying true to their Thrash roots. I still look at this as a Thrash Metal band; I still look at the album that's coming out as Thrash Metal. People say it's new-wave Black Metal bullshit or crap and I don't agree with that. I think they need to go back and listen to their Black Metal records. No Black Metal band that I can think of has vocals like that. The closest would be CRADLE OF FILTH. Sure, maybe the vocals touch on Black Metal a bit; I'll agree with that; the guitars are the furthest thing from it. Those riffs are just nuts. They're writing every song outside of the box. They're thinking outside of the box on every riff.
You've demoed the songs now. Do you think you are going to duplicate them or will you make any changes?
Well, the soloing is going to change for sure. The solos are going to be rewritten. I think solos - and Steve and Ken agree with me on this - should be almost like a song within a song. A great solo is a solo you can hum. You can hum all the solos off the "None Shall Defy" record. I'm really trying to push these guys to work hard on their leads. All the major riffs are there; there's no question. The solos are icing on the cake. They can’t suck (laughs); not that they do, but the solos were rushed on the demo. When it comes time to rerecord, I'm hoping you can hum along with them. I'll be overseeing that. But the main song structures are going to stay the same. The most common word that we've learned at practice is "change". Change is change.
Anything you’d like to touch base upon that we didn't discuss?
Not really. My main objective I guess is to help the listeners cope with not getting another "None Shall Defy" (laughs). I feel their pain; I know exactly how they feel. If "None Shall Defy" came out in this day and age, it wouldn't have done anything. I really don't think it would have. But because it came out when it did, it was groundbreaking. But today - it's not groundbreaking. We’re still trying to break ground and if we put out another "None Shall Defy", we're not accomplishing anything in our eyes. We want to accomplish something. The band has been around for 20 years; it's time to get this band where it rightfully should be.
And you think you can do that with the new album?
Absolutely! I think we're on the right steps. [FIN]
» Official INFERNAL MAJESTY Website
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