### Evile: Enter the grave

#### 13/11/07 || The Duff

Apparently these days there are a lot of bands bringing back the classic 80’s thrash sound, and if such is the case, I haven’t been paying that much attention to it – my head has been immersed in nothing but death, post-rock and prog for the past year or so. Evile should be changing this sometime soon, for although I’m not the biggest thrash fan (three of the big four and Testament is about as much as I listen to), I find it very easy to enjoy – so long as the band is talented, I don’t have to invest too much of my attention so as to enjoy an album’s worth of the sub-genre.

Evile have basically rejuvenated my interest in this music by kicking my ass and reminding me that thrash was the first style of metal I was introduced to. Labeling them isn’t going to be the toughest thing since trying to remove my cock from the vacuum cleaner – these British fellows have clearly listened to a lot of Slayer, some Metallica and Megadeth (track “Enter the Grave” sounds like a combo of “Into the Fire” and “Seek and Destroy”), and traces of Testament (well whatta ya know, the only four thrash bands I listen to). The musicianship is tight, quite complicated (solos are neat – better than Kerry King could ever produce, which isn’t saying much, but you get the drift), well executed, and rarely mundane. For a band that plays a style of music that has been emulated and infused within other sub-genres for nigh thirty years, Evile are worth your time, which is essentially saying that if you like vaginas, you’ll like this.

This band is inexperienced (something that becomes evident in the arrangements, and the often unnecessary “epic-length” tracks, which as we all know, don’t belong in thrash anymore than they do in grind), but “Enter the Grave” is their debut, and I think with time, these guys could become a seriously potent force to contend with in the underground metal scene. I take in the lack of innovative riffs (even the vocals are like a more palatable Tom Araya), and I think “Why do you guys even bother?”, then I listen to “Christ Illusion”, and re-evaluate my opinion – “Why the fuck not?” This is well written metal, and yet nothing that takes itself too seriously – just pop the fucker in and thrash out for forty-five minutes, piss off the neighbors, fuck yer vacuum cleaner, and whatever else works for you.

8 worthy rip-offs out of 10.

- Information
- Released: 2007
- Label: Earache
- Website: www.evile.co.uk
- Band
- Matt Drake: guitars, vocals
- Ol Drake: guitars
- Mike Alexander: bass
- Ben Carter: drums

- Tracklist
- 01. Enter the Grave
- 02. Thrasher
- 03. First Blood
- 04. Man Against Machine
- 05. Burned Alive
- 06. Killer from the Deep
- 07. We Who Are About to Die
- 08. Schizophrenia
- 09. Bathe in Blood
- 10. Armoured Assault