Infernal (Danish band)

Infernal (occasionally stylized with metal umlaut as Infërnal) is a dance-pop group from Denmark, 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 went on to international chart success in the 2000s. 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.

Infernal
Lead singer Lina Rafn at the 2007 Danish DJ Awards
Background information
OriginCopenhagen, Denmark
GenresElectro house, dance-pop, nu-disco, (2004–present)
Eurodance, trance (1997–2003)
Years active1997–present
LabelsFLEX Records
(1997–2003)
Border Breakers
(2004–present)
Websiteinfernal.dk
MembersLina Rafn
Paw Lagermann
Past membersSøren Haahr
Paw Lagermann during Infernal-concert at Vig Festival 2010. (Photo: Lars Schmidt)

Infernal have released four studio albums, with the 1998 debut album Infernal Affairs reaching double platinum sales in Denmark.[1] Their mainstream breakthrough came with From Paris to Berlin from 2004, and the success continued with Electric Cabaret in 2008, certified with double platinum and platinum, respectively.[2][3]

Paw Lagermann and Lina Rafn have made a comeback in 2012 as a duo called Paw&Lina with the hit single "Stolt af mig selv?"

History

(1997–2003) Musical beginnings and early success

Infernal started out as a three-piece band in 1997 with Lina, Paw, and 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 subgenre 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.

(2004–2007) 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 Cup. In July 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 "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 3,000,000 views.

On 28 May 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.[4]
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.

(2008–2016) Electric Cabaret and Fall from Grace, Love Is All... (International Version and Put Your Fucking Hands Up EP

"We are experimenting with the sound and the direction of the album. The only thing we know is that we want it to be a little less feathers&sequins and a bit more jeans&T-shirt’ish. I don’t know how that sounds. We only know what feeling we are trying to create."

— Lina Rafn on the creation of the forthcoming 2010 album.[5]

The band announced in February 2008 that their next album, Electric Cabaret, would be released worldwide on 11 August 2008.[6] The lead single, "Downtown Boys", was premiered at Boogie Prisen, a Danish award show on national TV. The single was released on 14 April 2008 and peaked at number #2 on the Danish Singles Chart, surpassing the peaks of "Self Control" and "I Won't Be Crying", and #1 for four weeks on the Danish Airplay Chart, being their first single to top this chart.[7] On 13 June 2008, the full track list and album cover were released. The album met positive reviews, stating that stand-out tracks from the album include "Punk Disco" and "Redefinition". Electric Cabaret was Infernal's first album to be released digitally through the band's official website, allowing fans from countries where the band is not signed to buy their music legally.

On 26 June 2009 Lina Rafn announced that Infernal had started working on new material for their forthcoming fifth studio album, which was at that time scheduled to be released "sometime in 2010."[8] The overall sound of the album was described as, "less feathers&sequins and a bit more jeans&T-shirt’ish."[5] In November 2009, Paw Lagermann said that they had written three songs with Thomas Troelsen, who had previously co-written "Dead or Alive" from Electric Cabaret, including one outtake from the previous album, which had been reworked. He also revealed that they recorded 16-18 potential songs for the album, some of which would remain instrumental tracks.[8] On 4 April 2010, Lagermann revealed that the album Fall from Grace would be released in late September 2010. He also said that the lead single off the album, "Love Is All...", would be released in early May 2010.[9] On 10 July 2010, the entire Fall from Grace track list was posted by Infernal themselves on their official website.[10]

On 15 September 2010, Infernal released the second single off Fall from Grace, "Alone, Together". The single was released in Scandinavian iTunes Stores and their own Music Store that utilizes the music downloading service Klicktrack.[11][12] In the first two weeks after its release, Fall from Grace sold only 1,850 copies in Denmark.[13]

On 27 April 2012 Infernal released a new version of Love Is All... for the UK audience.

On 10 November 2012 Infernal released a brand new single "Can't Go Back". after the release of "Can't Go Back" when asked if this was a single from a new album Infernal said no and announced that Fall from Grace would in fact be their last full album as the process of creating album can be very stressful for Lina who with her band mate Paw create the music as well as write the lyrics for the songs. so the band will just focus on new sings and release them going forward that way they are still creating new music and can focus on touring more.

On 4 January 2013 the record label EMI released a Compilation Album De første fra Infernal, which translates as The first From Infernal.

On 9 September Infernal released a new Live EP Put Your Fucking Hands Up.

(2017–present) New Single's

In early 2017 Infernal released their first promotional single "Hurricane" from their forthcoming album, which they plan to release later this year. The official Hurricane Remix reached #2 on the Danish Dance Chart in February 2017 and spent 14 weeks in the Dance Chart top 10.

Since then two more promotional singles have been released, titled "Weightless" and the newest single "Holding on" was released in May 2017.

In December 2017 Infernal released a new single through streaming platforms, "Not Alone (Alo Elo Ele)". The single entered the Danish iTunes download chart in the top 30 and is noted to have a different sound to previous singles. As of February 2018 the single has reached #9 on the Danish dance chart.

On 16 March 2018 a new single "Fist Up" was released.

A tour was announced through their official Facebook page and will take commence from Autumn 2018.

On 18 May 2018 Infernal released their new single "Made You love Me".

On 12 October 2018 Infernal released a new single called 'Don't U Know That I Care'

On 21 December 2018 Infernal released another single, "WeToo"

On 12 July 2019 Infernaled released a new single, "1000 Colours". A track they wrote for the 25th anniversary of Danish brand REMA 1000. But after a positive response to it they decided to release it as a single.

On 15 November 2019 Infernal released a new single called 'Techno Tombola' in aid for their tour they was on at the time.

On 4 May 2020 Infernal announced a new single which would be released 8 May 2020. On 7 May 2020 Infernal announced the title of their new single, 'We Luv', and that the song is the official Vi Elsker anthem.

Discography
Main article: Infernal discography

Notes

A^ Waiting for Daylight was re-released in 2001 as Muzaik with re-recorded versions and previously unreleased songs.
B^ From Paris to Berlin was re-released in an international, UK, US and Taiwan editions from 2005 to 2007.

Awards
Year Award Category Nominated work Result
2002 Danish DeeJay Award[14] Danish Club Hit of the Year "Muzaik" Nominated
Danish Artist of the Year Won
Danish Performer of the Year Won
Danish Album of the Year Muzaik Nominated
2005 Danish Artist of the Year Won
Danish Album of the Year From Paris to Berlin Nominated
Danish DeeJay Favourite of the Year "From Paris to Berlin" Won
Danish Club Hit of the Year (The Dancechart.dk Award) "From Paris to Berlin" Nominated
2006 Danish Artist of the Year Nominated
Danish DeeJay Favourite of the Year "Keen on Disco" Nominated
Danish Club Hit of the Year (The Dancechart.dk Award) "Keen on Disco" Won
2007 Danish Artist of the Year Nominated
Danish Club Hit of the Year (The Dancechart.dk Award) "Ten Miles" Nominated
2008 The Voice Award "I Won't Be Crying" Nominated
Danish Club Hit of the Year (The Dancechart.dk Award) "I Won't Be Crying" Nominated
2009 The Voice Award "Downtown Boys" Nominated
Danish Club Hit of the Year (The Dancechart.dk Award) "Downtown Boys" Nominated
Danish Album of the Year Electric Cabaret Nominated
1999 Danish Grammy Award Danish Upfront Dance Release of the Year Infernal Affairs Won
2002 Danish Music Award Danish Club Hit of the Year "Muzaik" Won
2008 MTV Europe Music Award Best Danish Act Nominated
2006 P3 Guld[15] P3 Lytterhittet (Listener's Award) "Ten Miles" Nominated
P3 Respekten (Respect Award) Nominated
2009 MTV Europe Music Award Best Danish Act Nominated
2010 The Voice Awards The Best Of Year Won

Paw&Lina

Paw Lagermann and Lina Rafn of Infernal have made recordings as a duo under the name Paw&Lina. A version of the Infernal album Electric Cabaret with a commentary track stretching over the entire album done in Danish was released crediting Paw & Lina and was also made available for download[16][17]

The duo Paw&Lina also had a comeback in 2012 with the hit single "Stolt af mig selv?" that reached #8 in the Danish Singles Chart.

Discography
Year Single Peak position Certification
DEN
[18]
2012 "Stolt af mig selv?"
8
2014 "Forfra"
30
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References
  1. "Talking Shop: Infernal". BBC News.
  2. IFPI Danmark - Guld og platin i 2007 (in Danish)
  3. Hitlisten.NU - Album Top-40, 10 July 2009 (in Danish)
  4. "Talking Shop: Infernal". BBC News. 1 June 2007. Retrieved 5 May 2010.
  5. "June - INFERNAL". Archived from the original on 12 February 2013.
  6. "Artikler - - Hitsurf.dk".
  7. "DJz.dk - Endelig: Ny single fra Infernal!!". Archived from the original on 18 June 2015. Retrieved 10 April 2008.
  8. "August - INFERNAL". Archived from the original on 19 July 2011.
  9. Lagermann, Paw. "Easter Eggs!!". Infernal.dk. Archived from the original on 19 July 2011. Retrieved 4 April 2010.
  10. Lagermann, Paw. "Fall From Grace". Infernal.dk. Archived from the original on 14 August 2010. Retrieved 11 July 2010.
  11. N/A, N/A. "Music Store". Infernal.dk. Archived from the original on 27 November 2010. Retrieved 16 September 2010.
  12. N/A, N/A. "Infernal - Alone, Together (iTunes Danmark)". Apple. Retrieved 16 September 2010.
  13. Treo, Thomas. "Infernal flopper". Ekstra Bladet. Retrieved 15 October 2010.
  14. "Nomineringer" (in Danish). Danish DeeJay Awards. Archived from the original on 31 May 2009. Retrieved 5 January 2010.
  15. Juul, Jacob Chapelle (11 October 2006). "P3 Guld-nomineringer offentliggjort". GAFFA (in Danish). Retrieved 5 January 2010.
  16. "Electric Cabaret (med kommentarer)". iTunes. Retrieved 2 January 2010.
  17. "Electric Cabaret - Paw & Lina's kommentarer (MP3)". cdon.com. 4 May 2009. Archived from the original on 8 July 2011. Retrieved 2 January 2010.
  18. "danishcharts.dk - Discography Paw & Lina". Hitlisten. Hung Medien. Retrieved 7 July 2012.
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