Metal
Napalm Records
Release Date – July 14th 2023
Line Up:
Ol Drake – Vocals/Guitar
Adam Smith – Guitar
Joel Graham – Bass
Ben Carter – Drums
Tracklist:
1 – The Unknown
2 – The Mask We Wear
3 – Monolith
4 – When Mortal Coils Shed
5 – Sleepless Eyes
6 – Out Of Sight
7 – At Mirror’s Speech
8 – Reap What You Sow
9 – Beginning Of The End
10 – Balance Of Time
Let’s get this out of the way from the off – Evile now sounds like ‘Black Album’ Metallica. You get some massive expensive riffs, searing melodic solos, and banging rhythms plus Ol Drake bears an uncanny resemblance to James Hetfield vocally – who cares! They still cut a shed load of dust on this new release and dare I say it they have matured into a fantastic metal band that creates heavy, epic sounds and write about serious life-affecting subjects like depression, living with dementia, and becoming a parent – those of you with children will know about the stress because they don’t come with a manual!
Kicking off with the title track a low acoustic melody gives way to a heavy mid-paced stomper which has some superb melodic lead lines from Drake and Smith before the huge crunch of ‘The Mask We Wear’ and the slow doom of ‘Monolith’. ‘When Mortal Coils Shed’ has a touch of ‘Nothing Else Matters’ but again who cares, Drake opens his heart and soul and should be applauded. We get some thrash on ‘Sleepless Eyes’ where Carter puts the hammer down, it’s fast, loud, and nasty with a gang backing vocal and the thrash continues ‘Out Of Sight’ where Drake puts in a rapid vocal delivery – must have had his singing teeth in for that one. It’s back to the big mid-paced crushers on ‘At Mirror’s Speech’, ‘Reap What You Sow’, and Beginning Of The End before the final thrashing of ‘Balance Of Time’.
Honestly – not what I was expecting but talk about pleasantly surprised. There’s enough on here to satisfy any metalhead. The riffs are big and expensive, the grooves are huge, the performances and songs are world-class plus the production is awesome – don’t know who did it but well done. I think this will grow on people and will be recognized as one of Evile’s best in the years to come – you just gotta give it a chance.
Written by: Smudge
Ratings: 8/10
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