{"id":67709,"date":"2018-03-24T00:01:29","date_gmt":"2018-03-24T00:01:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=67709"},"modified":"2018-03-24T21:24:19","modified_gmt":"2018-03-24T21:24:19","slug":"album-review-evil-hunter-evil-hunter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-evil-hunter-evil-hunter\/","title":{"rendered":"EVIL HUNTER – Evil Hunter (2018) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

EVIL HUNTER
Evil Hunter<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nFighter (2018)<\/span>
Rating: 8.5\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Evil Hunter is a new Spanish metal outfit featuring Dami\u00e1n Chicano (vocals, Chicanos), Jos\u00e9 Rubio (guitar, Magara \/ Nova Era \/ ex-Warcry), Victor Dur\u00e1n (guitar, Nightfear \/ ex-Lords Of Black), Alberto Garrido (bass, Alien Rockin\u2019 Explosion \/ ex-Black Hat) and Gustavo Segura (drums, Nova Era).<\/p>\n

The album comes armed with eight tracks which I had hoped contradicted the glossy sci-fi design, and thankfully they do. Although this is still very much contemporary power \/ melodic metal that at times nods to more traditional, galloping values of older heavy metal.<\/p>\n

Vocally, Chicano has an interesting blend of scratchy, high-pitched wails with more commanding tones that would suit a majority of Scandinavian melodic power metal acts. But with this debut album the combo has constructed a batch of good, steady metallic offerings.<\/p>\n

The outing begins with the catchy drive of \u2018Surf The Waves\u2019, which I really enjoyed until its rather melodious, icy chorus. Other than that it\u2019s a straight up power metal rigour emblazoned by the steely guitar work of Rubio and Dur\u00e1n who provide a real professionalism and weight to proceedings as Segura hammers away in concise fashion.<\/p>\n

\u2018Evil Hunter\u2019 begins with authority, the steady drum and chuggy bass working in tandem with the crunchy, glistening riffs and again we get a harmonious chorus. Chicano has hints of, dare I say it, Axl Rose fused with a power metal design. His rich tones serve him well on this pummelling track, the posse comfortably finding a medium between metallic and melodic without grating on the nerves. But it\u2019s no real surprise that the album soon becomes a warm, contagious listen, as these guys have been around the block in various bands. <\/p>\n

\u2018Heartbeat\u2019 fizzes in with a steady bass and drum gallop, although this time the guitars take on a seemingly Nordic battle metal vibe, while \u2018Hot Leather\u2019 simmers slowly initially as Chicano\u2019s maniacal laugh and whisper brings in a fizzing solo and funky bass trundle. Here, Evil Hunter marry a cooler mid-tempo roll with classic metal nuances, and for some reason I\u2019m reminded of cult California metallers WWIII. Again it\u2019s down to that fusion of power metal, straight up metal and more groove-based structures, but \u2018Hot Leather\u2019 really is a quality tune showcasing the vocal variances of Chicano.<\/p>\n

Thankfully that quality continues throughout the rest of the album. \u2018Hold Me Tight\u2019 is a faster, juddering lump of molten groove metal with a sizzling chorus, while \u2018Go\u2019 is an out and out ballsy thrasher with its blazing chugging at the start \u2013 fans of Accept will devour this one. However, with \u2018By Your Side\u2019 the subtle details come into the fold. This is circa the late-80s hard rock, drifting into the fluffy void once inhabited by the likes of Whitesnake. Boy, is this a warm and rich power ballad, Evil Hunter showing that there\u2019s still life in the metal balladry stakes.<\/p>\n

But just when you think the band is mellowing, we\u2019re hit by the closing hammer \u2018Open Up Your Eyes\u2019, another veritable powerhouse of rousing vocal wails and thrashing variances as Garrido\u2019s bass thunders with aplomb to the speedy charge of riffs.<\/p>\n

Evil Hunter really have come up trumps with this blistering debut; a record of metal maturity that runs effortlessly like a well-oiled machine, but most importantly blows the roof off with its power and melody.<\/p>\n

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

EVIL HUNTEREvil Hunter Fighter (2018)Rating: 8.5\/10 Evil Hunter is a new Spanish metal outfit featuring Dami\u00e1n Chicano (vocals, Chicanos), Jos\u00e9 Rubio (guitar, Magara \/ Nova Era \/ ex-Warcry), Victor Dur\u00e1n (guitar, Nightfear \/ ex-Lords Of Black), Alberto Garrido (bass, Alien Rockin\u2019 Explosion \/ ex-Black Hat) and Gustavo Segura (drums, Nova Era). The album comes armed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,3912],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-67709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-evil-hunter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67709","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=67709"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67709\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":67714,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67709\/revisions\/67714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}