{"id":12556,"date":"2013-05-27T00:00:32","date_gmt":"2013-05-27T00:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=12556"},"modified":"2013-06-13T23:09:33","modified_gmt":"2013-06-13T23:09:33","slug":"album-review-evile-skull","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-evile-skull\/","title":{"rendered":"EVILE – Skull (2013) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

EVILE
Skull<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nEarache (2013)<\/span>
Rating: 7\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Evile have been held responsible for the UK thrash revival. The Huddersfield metalheads hit the metal scene big time in 2007 with their Enter The Grave<\/em> debut. I have to admit that I\u2019ve never been the biggest fan of the band but, before anyone chops my testicles off, I do admire these guys for pulling UK thrash out of the gutter, because as usual it seemed as though it was the American chaps who were leading the line once again.<\/p>\n

Thrash metal was a huge thing back in the 80s, but the UK scene never got off the ground despite the fact some truly amazing bands were vomited from the streets of Britain \u2013 Onslaught, Sabbat, Xentrix, Deathwish, Slammer, Re-Animator and Toranaga, to name just a few.<\/p>\n

Sadly, too many UK thrash acts resorted to humour and these bands were just not taken seriously, but how on earth the likes of Sabbat could never trade blows with the Americans, let alone European thrashers, still remains a mystery.<\/p>\n

And so we come full circle, with Evile very much taking their San Francisco Bay Area influenced thrash to the people. Album number four, Skull<\/em>, is produced by Russ Russell, who also worked on the previous two records, Five Serpent\u2019s Teeth<\/em> (2011) and Infected Nations<\/em> (2009).<\/p>\n

As expected, we get a mighty dose of classic sounding thrash, nothing startlingly original but something so lean and polished that at times you\u2019d be forgiven for thinking that this is an American band. The Metallica influence has always been there to see and hear, especially in Matt Drake\u2019s James Hetfield-esque vocal style. His rhythm guitar, accompanied by Ol Drake\u2019s leads, is very much of the Bay Area-style crunch and melody, bringing to mind the weight and flow of Testament at their most accomplished. Elsewhere, Ben Carter\u2019s drums are torrential, giving the album a sharp, stabbing edge \u2013 something often missing from those 80s UK thrash records \u2013 while Joel Graham\u2019s bass is equally potent.<\/p>\n

Skull<\/em>, which boasts nine tracks, clocks in at just over 48-minutes, and as soon as one dives into album opener \u2018Underworld\u2019 the Metallica comparisons are clear. The raging heartbeat of the track sounds like a more polished Metallica, circa Kill \u2019Em All<\/em><\/a> (1983), and that chorus is Hetfield at his angriest, combined with that killer chug.<\/p>\n

Strangely, and as I expected, there\u2019s nothing thrilling about this Evile opus, yet I guess it\u2019s their maturity which has enabled them to receive such critical acclaim, because they sound as if they\u2019ve been around since the 80s like so many of those great thrash acts I continually harp on about; Destruction<\/a>, Sodom, Kreator etc. It\u2019s great to hear a band keeping the thrash pure too, but whether they\u2019ll take the Metallica \/ Megadeth<\/a> course and resort to tame melody we\u2019ll have to wait and see. They\u2019ve certainly come a long way from the more primitive clattering of the Enter The Grave<\/em> debut, though.<\/p>\n

The title track goes straight for the jugular, blending blistering speed with some nice slower tempo changes, while \u2018The Naked Sun\u2019 combines that classic Metallica crunch with speedier Overkill influence. Again, there\u2019s nothing original about the track but Evile, just like early Metallica, have a knack for infectious choruses and blazing solos. \u2018Tomb\u2019 is classic thrash, boasting old school values with the almost archetype mellow intro, sounding like the sort of track that may have been left off Metallica\u2019s … And Justice For All<\/em><\/a> (1988), and that is my main problem with Evile.<\/p>\n

For all their guile and craft, they really do, at times, sound like Metallica clones, hence the fact that the current thrash revival, for all its energy, simply pales in comparison with the 80s scene. For all its epic posturing, \u2018Tomb\u2019 is Metallica through and through, made all the more cringeworthy due to the fact these guys are from the UK.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m so divided when it comes to Evile\u2019s last couple of albums, believing them to be one of metal\u2019s most overrated acts while at the same time I find myself applauding them for their bravery in taking that US thrash sound and making it their own. I\u2019m not sure what US audiences will make of the chugging album closer \u2018New Truths, Old Lies\u2019, or the jarring assault of \u2018What You Become\u2019, but I guess if you can\u2019t beat them then join them by playing them at their own game.<\/p>\n

Evile are a very good band, but just like Metallica circa 1988-1990 I find myself growing tired \u2013 and rather quickly \u2013 of the almost banal chugs and dry grunts of Matt Drake. Of course, without the explosion of Evile the current thrash scene may not have reached the healthy state of today, but when I stand back and try to be non-bias to those halcyon days, I find their music rather stale.<\/p>\n

Skull<\/em> is certainly an improvement on Five Serpent\u2019s Teeth<\/em>, but, put simply, it\u2019s thrash puppetry from a band that I just can\u2019t see as masters. Evile are derivative and generic, but hats off to them for somehow finding a niche.<\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

EVILESkull Earache (2013)Rating: 7\/10 Evile have been held responsible for the UK thrash revival. The Huddersfield metalheads hit the metal scene big time in 2007 with their Enter The Grave debut. I have to admit that I\u2019ve never been the biggest fan of the band but, before anyone chops my testicles off, I do admire […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[214],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12556","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-evile"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12556"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12556\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12566,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12556\/revisions\/12566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}