Evile

By Júlio Valada on Aug 4, 2011 in Cd Review | 0 comments

Album: Five Serpent’s Teeth
Label: Earache Records
Tracks: 10
Release Date: September 26th
Lenght: 55′ 17″

Riff Score: 8.0/10

Evile are back with a new album that continues to pave their way down the thrash revivalism road. Not contempt with their past efforts and always pushing forward, the band returns in full force with Five Serpent’s Teeth.

There’s been a revivalism of the thrash metal scene in the last few years, with a lot of bands “modernizing” the late eighties and early nineties sound. Evile are one of such bands, playing what is nowadays known as “retro-thrash”. It’s basically old school thrash metal with a bit more of groove and modern production values. This movement however has been a two-edged sword since its inception, as many fans complain about the old school magic being dead and gone. I certainly agree with such opinions up to a certain point, because this new thrash movement is far away from the original one in the early eighties. And when you think of thrash metal do you even think of the UK? No, you instantly think of the Bay Area and German scenes, which is from where 90% of the better known bands in the genre come from. There were some decent British thrash bands back in the day, like Sabbat, Xentrix or Deathwish, but the UK was always more of a place for heavy metal to pop up than thrash. So if old school thrash wasn’t great how could you expect for newer thrash to be better?!

Here enters Evile, a young and ambitious band, hailing from her majesty’s kingdom and trying to show the world that the retro-thrash scene isn’t all bad. They’re currently one of the leading bands of the movement, and they keep showing that they’re here to stay for many years. So on to their new album then. I must say that the first couple of times that I’ve heard the album it failed to impress me, but third time’s a charm and I eventually got into it. Now don’t go on and think that this is the saviour of the decadent thrash scene, nor that it is the second coming of Slayer! It’s a good solid album with some great moments, but it’s nothing outstanding or amazingly brilliant.

Opening the album is the title track with its first fifty seconds worth of intro that suddenly burst into a groovey riff with a cool thrash beat, and then James Hetfield starts singing! No, not really, but I wouldn’t be surprised if an unaware listener would pass this off as Metallica. Mind you it’s much more thrash-oriented than anything that Metallica released in the past 20 years, and a good sign of this would be the blazing leads pass the three and a half minute mark. One after the other they rip through the ranks the way they should. The chorus is pretty cool but it’s kind of strange how Matt Drake sounds so similar to James. Next track starts in a kick-ass manner but it suddenly drops into another groovey riff that is again akin to more mid-tempo thrash, with the main chorus and the leads proving to be a bit disappointing this time around. Again a not so subtle “Black Album” presence hovers through Evile’s music, and not that it’s a bad album (I actually like it and own it) but I was expecting a more “in your face” attitude from these guys. Again it’s not that the songs or their execution are bad, they just seem too influenced by Metallica circa 1991. Third track called “Cult” enters the stage and the same thought that was present on the first two is there again. I don’t mind similarities but this is getting ridiculous… Just listen to “In Memoriam” and tell me that’s not a Metallica song. I mean this song could have been in the actual “Black Album”!

Despite all the similarities in style, vocal range and even in some riffs it’s safe to say one thing, these guys are talented musicians and they don’t pretend to play thrash, they really do it. The Drake brothers prove on this album that they’re heavily influenced by the Bay Area style with lightning speed palm muted riffs like the ones in “Eternal Empire” and “Origin Of Oblivion”, leads that can melt you brain like in the title track and “Descend Into Madness”, and slow grooves that just pummel you down like on “Xaraya” or “Centurion”. You know what? After a few listens this becomes a decent and pleasant listening experience. I would certainly dig it a lot more (and many people will probably agree with me when I say this) if the album was more oriented into the faster side of thrash instead of being half-and-half of slow grooves and fast leads. These guys can reach bigger heights but for that they need to differentiate themselves from their predecessors and what would probably be their biggest influence, Metallica. Evile need to pick up on what they’ve done so far and try to build a sound that is their own and not just borrowed from this album or that band. They’re clearly capable of such as they’re talented blokes, it’s just a matter of the will to do so.

There are some really good songs here as I’ve pointed out above, some great guitar work and even the drumming has its moments. The bass is felt through the album but it’s just there, never doing much more than accompanying the rest of the band. I say that these guys can deliver more and I hope that they do it in the near future. For now this is a fun album and a cool listen, like the “Black Album” on acid and more rabid, but at the same time it still feels a bit restrained. This is certainly worth your money as Evile prove again why they’re one of the better bands of this new wave of thrash metal. They’re still lacking that little extra something that’s keeping them from reaching higher places, although I believe they have what it takes to get there. It’s just a matter of time I suppose, and I for one am looking forward to this band’s bright future!

By: Júlio Valada