INFERNAL MAJESTY - None Shall Defy LP

Absolutely essential Canadian thrash metal classic! Say what one may about the over-the-top imagery and often cartoonish album art, the mid 80s thrash explosion was one of the most exciting periods in metal history. The so-called rules that tend to govern the existent sub-sets of the broader umbrella were a bit less defined, resulting in a number of albums that tended to embody elements of black, death, and thrash metal while still largely remaining in the latter category. It was inevitable that a number of bands would end up sounding similar to each other, but there was a lot more of an individualistic tendency towards the bands of this period, and this often crossed national borders to the point where a number of later American thrash bands came off sounding more like their Teutonic cousins, and a lone extreme thrash act from Canada would end up sounding dangerously close to the next rung on the latter between where Possessed was on "Seven Churches" and where Death ended up on "Scream Bloody Gore". Why this album didn't make as many waves as the likes of "Scream Bloody Gore" and "In The Sign Of The Black Mark" is a bit of a mystery given that it is at least as historically significant, not to mention one intense thrash fest by the standards of both the mid 80s embryonic death brigade out of California and Brazil, and the ongoing Teutonic craze across the Atlantic, let alone the safe stuff going on in the mainline thrash scene.

Ltd. 400x black vinyl, 425gsm heavy cardboard cover, insert, poster, remastered by Patrick W. Engel/ Temple of Disharmony

High Roller Records 2022