Evile-Enter the grave

Earache
2007

The year 1986 was such a great year for speed metal and Metallica's Master of puppets and Slayer's Reign in blood were a huge part of that. Not only did those two album raise every one's awareness of speed metal, but they also caused a lot of young bands to try emulate their styles. So for the next 2-3 years there were still young guys coming out of the woodwork trying to be the next Metallica or Slayer. Fast forward twenty some years later and some up and coming bands are still being influenced by those two classic albums. Such is the case for UK based Evile. It doesn't take long to realize the impression that 1980's thrash had on these guys. They obviously spent plenty of time studying Slayer, Metallica, Exodus and a few others. They have the basics down overall with some solid riffs plus decent production provided by former Metallica producer Flemming Rasmussen. Yet like many of the bands that tried to copy the masters in the late 1980's they are missing a few essentials that keep them from being a first rate thrash band. The obvious one is an overall lack of aggression in the music and the vocals. You can go through the paces, but you really have to put some real anger or fire behind it and these guys sound too often like they are on auto-pilot. The other problem is related to the first and that is the music lacks a sharpness in the pace changes. If you think of the top thrash bands of the day then you pictures the sharp, pounding pace changes that make the songs by those bands stand out. These guys hit it some, but they need to be far more consistent if they want to get noticed. As someone who went over almost every thrash band that came down the pike in the late 80's I can appreciate the idea of trying to bring 1980's thrash back. However this bands needs some more work before they can really make an impact or be a major player in any kind of thrash comeback. There is some potential here and I hope they keep plugging away, but overall they sound like the many bands who tried and failed to be thrash masters back in the late 1980's.

You can check them out at Myspace below.
Myspace

Evile-Five Serpent's Teeth

Earache
2011


While wandering aimlessly around my local Marc's looking for blank CDs I came across this album in a clearance bin. How it could be in a clearance bin when it has only been out a little over six months I do not know. It did not exactly bode well for the album. That said at only $3.99 I took a chance on Evile's third album and headed for my car to see what all the fuss was about. While I never did find those blank CDs at Marc's I did walk away with a pleasant little surprise from this English thrash act. At first I was thinking to myself "why didn't anyone tell me the Big Four recorded an album together?" as this is so drenched in Bay Area love it is almost frightening. "Five Serpent's Teeth" was produced by our friend Russ Russell (Napalm Death, The Exploited, Dimmu Borgir and many more) at Parlour Studios in Kettering, England. It is the first album released after the band lost original bassist Mike Alexander. Mike Alexander (who tragically died from a blood clot while on tour for "Infected Nations") is replaced by former Rise to Addiction bassist Joel Graham. Now since the band members did get their start playing Metallica covers the influence of James Hetfield and company is rather obvious. "Master Of Puppet" seems to be the cut off point as far as Evile goes so Metallica's first three albums act as a blue print for these English lads. Along with Megadeth, Anthrax, Exodus, Testament and specifically Slayer that is what Evile aims for as far direction. And you know what? I enjoy that about them. They seem to know who they are and what they want and they certainly do it with a high level of skill. The band is well versed in thrash metal 101 and even if this isn't very original it is at least fun. It was certainly worth the $3.99 I paid for it! By the way I added a link below with Metal Mark's review of one of their other albums.































http://metalmark.blogspot.com/search?q=Evile-Enter+the+grave+

What's coming up?

October is one of my favorite months of the year and that's largely due to Halloween of course. The week after this coming week I will be on vacation, but I have the "Bad album cover contest" lined up for that week. I and three other bloggers will each have a hard rock/heavy metal album cover picked out for you to view. Each day one will be shown and then after all four are shown you get to vote on the one you think is the worst. Here is what I hope to have out this week.

Sunday-Evile-Enter the grave review
Monday-Interview with Darryl Sheppard of Hackman
Tuesday-Crimson Orchid-Nightmares and Fairytales review
Wednesday-Interview with Frankie Banali of Quiet Riot
Thursday-Heavy metal Jukebox
Friday-I really don't know, but I may post one of the interviews I did that turned out shorter than I had hoped. Or perhaps I will double up and also post another review as well or maybe something else.
Saturday-Explanation and reminder for the "Bad album cover contest"

*** Here are some Halloween related choices for you. Just pick the one of each pair that you prefer.

Candy apples or caramel apples
Bats or black cats
Dracula or Frankenstein
Evil Dead or Night of the living dead
Alice Cooper or Ozzy