Infernal (band)

Infobox musical artist
Name = Infernal


Img_capt = Lina Rafn and Paw Lagermann in a promotional photo for the "From Paris To Berlin" album.
Background = group_or_band
Origin = Denmark
Genre = Pop Disco Electro-pop Dance Trance House
Years_active = 1997—present
Label = inf:rec / Border Breakers
Europa Recordings (UK) under exclusive license
URL = [http://www.infernal.dk/ Official website]
Current_members = Lina Rafn Paw Lagermann
Past_members = Søren Haahr

Infernal is a two-piece Danish dance music group, consisting of members Lina Rafn and Paw Lagermann. They made their Danish debut in 1997 with the release of the track "Sorti de L'enfer", and have gone on to international chart success in recent years. Their most successful single to date has been "From Paris to Berlin", which charted well in many European countries throughout 2006 and 2007. In addition to the original single, an alternate version was released in the UK titled "From London to Berlin", supporting England in the 2006 Football World Cup

History

Musical beginnings

Infernal started out as a three-piece band in 1997. Lina, Paw and the third being Søren Haahr, but Søren left the group in 2000. Initially they were known for their unconventional style of singing as well as their experimental blend of different genres of music. In recent years they have turned towards more songwriting and their sound have gone from a sub genre club-sound to dance-oriented pop-sound aimed at the charts. An example of their early musical experiments is their track "Kalinka" which is based on the Russian Drobushki folk melody. From 1998 to 2004, the band released four albums in their native Denmark, three studio albums, one of them being a re-issue and one remix/live compilation album. All of them spawned Top 10 hits in Denmark, for example "Sunrise", "Muzaik", "Kiss The Sky", "Kalinka" and "You Receive Me", the latter being the theme song for a Danish season of the TV show "Big Brother".

International breakthrough

In 2004, their third studio album "From Paris to Berlin" was released. With the release of the title track, "From Paris To Berlin", they went on to major international chart-success. "From Paris to Berlin" became the only song released by a Danish act nominated at the Nordic Music Awards 2005. Ahead of the World Cup 2006, "From Paris to Berlin" was re-recorded for the English market with lyrics celebrating the English football squad, titled "From London to Berlin". However, the song was withdrawn from radio airplay and TV following England's knockout from the World CupIn May 2006, "From Paris to Berlin" climbed to #2 in the UK charts and remained in the top five for seven weeks, becoming the 6th best selling single in the UK in 2006. The following single released in the UK was titled "Self Control". It was a cover of a 1984 song by Italian pop singer Raf, which was also covered by Laura Branigan that same year. The Infernal version stalled at #18 in the UK charts, and #14 in Ireland. The single wasn't released in Spain, due to a similar version being released by Spanish singer Soraya Arnelas. Instead, they released "Ten Miles" in Spain, which topped the Spanish singles charts in November 2006. "I Won't Be Crying" served as the third single in Europe but failed to build momentum and gain significant airplay in the UK. It still went on to become a moderate hit in Europe and became the band's most watched video on YouTube, passing 1,500,000 views. On May 28, 2007, the band released a new version of their "From Paris To Berlin" album, this time in Europe and Asia. The new album contained two new songs and a bonus DVD on the Japanese edition. Counting sales of both first and second versions, "From Paris To Berlin" has sold more than one million copies worldwide. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6483527.stm BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Talking Shop: Infernal ] ]
Afterwards, "Ten Miles", was released in Europe. The song became an unexpected hit for the duo, surpassing the peak of "I Won't Be Crying" in Europe and reaching Top 5 in Poland.
Not yet well-known in the United States, Infernal is hoping to break the North American market, with the album being added in the American and Canadian Itunes and receiving great reviews. [ [http://www.infernal.dk/uk/content_nyheder_uk.php Infernal.dk news] ] .

Electric Cabaret

The band announced on February that their new album, entitled "Electric Cabaret" would be released worldwide on August 11, 2008. [ [http://www.hitsurf.dk/artikler/index.php?aid=84 Infernal comeback | Hitsurf.dk ] ] . The first single, called "Downtown Boys" had its worldwide premiere at Boogie Prisen, a Danish award show. The single was released on April 14 to Danish radio stations and Itunes and peaked at number #2 on the Danish Singles Chart, surpassing the peak of "Self Control" and "I Won't Be Crying" and #1 for four weeks on the Danish Airplay Chart, being their first single to reach that position. [ [http://www.djz.dk/musik/artikler/5124/ DJz.dk - Endelig: Ny single fra Infernal!! ] ] On June 13, 2008, the entire tracklist and album cover were released. For the first time, fans from all around the world were able to purchase the album through the band's official website. This allows fans from countries where the band isn't signed yet to legally buy their new music. [ [http://www.infernal.dk Home - INFERNAL ] ] The album met positive reviews, stating that stand-out tracks from the album include "Punk Disco" and "Redefinition". Electric Cabaret has yet to be physically released in the UK, although Infernal is trying to look for a record partner to release the album.

Discography

Albums

Infobox Discography
Name = Infernal Affairs


Released = 1998
Info = "Infernal Affairs" is the first album by Infernal. It contains the singles "Sorti de L'enfer", "Voodoo Cowboy", "Kalinka", "Your Crown" and "Highland Fling."
Type = studio
ChartPosition =
Sales =
Certification =
Label = FLEX RecordsInfobox Discography
Name = Remixed Affairs


Released = 1998
Info = "Remixed Affairs" is Infernal's second album and first remix album. It does contain two complete new tracks, six remixes, two live tracks and a megamix.
Type = remix
ChartPosition =
Sales =
Certification =
Label = FLEX RecordsInfobox Discography
Name = Waiting for Daylight


Released = 2000
Info = "Waiting for Daylight" is the third album - second studio album - released by Infernal.
Type = studio
ChartPosition = #32 (Denmark)
Sales =
Certification =
Label = FLEX RecordsInfobox Discography
Name = Muzaik


Released = 2001
Info = "Muzaik" is the revised edition of Infernals third album - second studio album. It contains the singles "Serengeti", "Sunrise" "Muzaik", "You Receive Me" and "Let Me Hear You Say Yeah", which all charted within the top 20 of the Danish singles chart, except "Serengeti." The album was a re-release of the Waitin for Daylight album with more pop-oriented versions of the previously released songs and a few new tracks and new artwork. The band has later stated that this is the issue they intended to put out to begin with.
Type = studio
ChartPosition = #17 (Denmark)
Sales =
Certification =
Label = FLEX RecordsInfobox Discography
Name = From Paris to Berlin

---

ChartPosition = #1 DEN, #2 FIN, #39 UK
Released = 2004/2007
Info = "From Paris to Berlin" is the third studio album by Infernal, released in Denmark in 2004, containing the same-named megahit, which was a chart topper in many European countries. The album was released in the UK on May 7th 2007 with three bonus tracks and a few changes from earlier editions of the album. The cover was slightly different from the 'International Edition', which was released in 2005 and 2006 for a lot of European countries after the success of "From Paris to Berlin." On August 2007, it topped the Danish Albums Chart, being the first album from Infernal to do so. France, Germany, Japan and other major territories has yet to set their date for the release of the From Paris to Berlin-album.
Label = Border BreakersInfobox Discography
Type = studio
ChartPosition = TBA
Sales =
Certification =
Label = inf:rec / BorderBreakers /Apollo / Scorpio
Name = Electric Cabaret


Released = 2008
Info =
Type = studio
ChartPosition =
Sales =
Certification =
Label = Border Breakers

ingles

All released singles and their peak positions in Australia (AUS), [ [http://australian-charts.com/ Australian Singles Chart - archive] ] Austria (AUT), [ [http://austriancharts.at/ Austrian Singles Chart - archive] ] Denmark (DEN), [ [http://www.hit-listen.dk/ Danish Singles Chart Archive] ] Finland (FIN), [ [http://finnishcharts.com/ Finnish Singles Chart - archive] ] France (FR), [ [http://lescharts.com/ French Singles Chart - archive] ] Germany (GER), [ [http://www.charts-surfer.de/musikcharts1024.htm German Singles Chart Archive] ] Ireland (IR), [ [http://www.charttrack.co.uk/index.jsp?c=p/musicvideo/music/archive/index.jsp Irish Singles Chart Archive] ] Netherlands (NL), [ [http://www.megacharts.nl/ Netherland Singles Chart] ] Norway (NOR), [ [http://lista.vg.no/ Norwegian Singles Chart - archive] ] Spain (SPA)Fact|date=February 2007, Sweden (SWE), [ [http://swedishcharts.com/ Swedish Singles Chart - archive] ] Switzerland (SUI) [ [http://swisscharts.com/ Swiss Singles Chart - archive] ] and the United Kingdom (UK). [ [http://www.everyhit.com/ UK Singles Chart - archive] ]

A blank field indicates the peak position for the single in that chart is unknown.

*¹ The chart archive of the [http://www.hit-listen.dk/ Danish Single Top 20] goes back only to the beginning of 2001, so the peak positions for the singles before that are unknown.
*² Some peak positions were for the 2006 release of "From Paris to Berlin."

References

External links

* [http://www.infernal.dk/uk/ Infernal's official website]
* [http://www.myspace.com/infernalworld - Infernal's official Myspace]
* [http://www.infernalfan.co.uk Infernal's Official UK fan site]
* [http://www.pawlagermann.com Paw Lagermann Unofficial Site]
* [http://forums.pawlagermann.com Infernal Fans Unofficial Forum]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6483527.stm BBC News Talking Shop: Infernal]