Infrared: ‘No Peace’
INFRARED
NO PEACE
Released on March 25, 2016 (Infrared)
Review:
Canada is the homeland to Infrared, who are a thrash band that stays true to the ’80s metal scene. They originally formed in the ’80s and then took a 27 year break, and are back in 2016 with the release of No Peace. This album contains songs that were written in the ’80s but are freshly recorded in 2015/2016 for this assault attack on your ears.
I really did get a kick out of the title of their first track — “Inframental” — and how they incorporated their name in the title. It starts off with a sound that sounds like a jet is flying overhead and then the music kicks in. Straight up thrash metal with the heavy and fast riffs, pounding drums, and the thumping of the bass. Just like the title indicates, this song is an instrumental that shows the talents of Alain Groulx on drums, Armin Kamal who is the singer and plays guitar, Mike Forbes on bass, and Kirk Gidley on guitars. “TOC” is the next track and it is a riff heavy song from the start and it also has a short blazing guitar solo that fits the song perfectly. This is also the time we get to hear Kamal’s vocals and the first thing I noticed is that he sounds a lot like Mike Howe from Metal Church (his voice is still fresh on my mind as I just wrote a review of their new album). Kamal does have a very strong and powerful voice and the pairing of that with the music is a great match. After listening to the song multiple times, I am still not able to figure out what “TOC” stands for.
The title track “No Peace” is another killer song on this album that they also made a war painted music video for this track (see below). The video starts off with a quote from W.H. Auden about how there is no peace in this world. Then you hear a sound of a heartbeat and the “beeping” sound with it that you hear at the hospital, and it is also counting down to the beginning of the song. With every heartbeat, they show you pictures of previous disturbing war photos. The rest of the video shows more previous war pictures, the band playing in the woods and an abandoned house, and a camera following a soldier running away from a drone or something and he stops running and is ready to quit, but then draws his gun again at the target and the video is done. So it leaves it up to you to imagine what happens next.
The rest of the album is solid all the way through. Other stand out songs are “Social Science,” which starts off with a slower riff then kicks in with some bass hooky rhythm and then full on speed metal and “Some Kind Of Disease” is groove heavy with fiery riffs that has everything you want to hear in a metal song. “Untimely Storm” is the “epic” song on the album. It has a little bit of everything. Starts off with a beautiful guitar harmony and then just kicks in to rip your face off. This song also has multiple guitar solos that will please anyone who loves some fancy guitar playing. The album comes to an end with “In Search Of…” which is a nice mellow instrumental that makes you almost feel like the war is over and you are watching the aftermath. Nice peaceful way to end the album of war.
If you live in the Ottawa, Ontario area, make sure you check these guys out opening for Anvil on Sept. 10th as I am sure it will be one hell of a show.
Track List:
01. Inframental
02. TOC
03. No Peace
04. My Good Will
05. Social Science
06. Cliché
07. Some Kind Of Disease
08. Down Below
09. Untimely Storm
10. Thoughts Caught (In Between)
11. In Search Of…
Band Members:
Alain Groulx – drums
Armin Kamal – vocals, guitar
Mike Forbes – bass
Kirk Gidley – guitar
Production:
Recorded and produced by Armin Kamal
Mixed by Jason Jaknunas
Mastered by Noah Mintz
Band Websites:
Official Website
Facebook
YouTube
Reviewed by Metal Headz Media for Sleaze Roxx, July 2016
Infrared‘s “No Peace” video:
Infrared – No Peace (Official Video)
Infrared is a thrash metal band from Canada that formed in the 80’s, disbanded for 27 years and then reunited to pump out a full album of classic thrash meta…