Evil Shepherd - Evil Through Darkness... And Darkness Through Death

Evil Shepherd

Evil Through Darkness... And Darkness Through Death

by Lior "Steinmetal" Stein at 28 February 2013, 2:54 PM

Evil has many forms of existence. It is everywhere hauling the corners of our worlds, sucking for air and on the ready to strike when possible. Evil is darkness, evil can be death and destruction but it is also an inspiring thing for the creation of quality music, wretched Metal music from the down under, six feet through the trenches of hell. Subsequent to the uncultivated raw days of the first wave of Black Metal music, and the hail of Thrash Metal throughout the 80s, the assembly of both genres crated the next preeminent mayhem for the exaltation of evil to the next level, even in a still inflamed form. After so many Thrash bands that became a herd, there is a need for a shepherd to guide them into the dugout of darkness. The Belgian obscure extensive Thrashers, EVIL SHEPHERD, reveal the sights and feels of the crispy of blackened Thrash Metal just as early SODOM, early SLAYER, MINOTAUR, early DESTRUCTION and CORONER once, and some even still, tormenting without end. Their second album, "Evil Through Darkness… And Darkness Through Death", via Empire Records, preached ugliness and darkened mastery in favour of what society hates with a large sum of energy and a handful of worship.

Since EVIL SHEPHERD is a part of large family of Thrash Metal bands, whether extreme or less, I didn't expect originality and I believe that I was right. Their music is basically and extreme form of Thrash with a lot of respects for traditional Heavy Metal, crispy, sharp edged, miraculously malevolent, occult themed, without ventures into new horizons. EVIL SHEPHERD seemed pretty much consistent with their raw style, providing catchy riffing of darkened Metal that didn't display as technical but rather simple to handle, full throttle disparaging speed and double bass drum barrages, perturbing, thin, scorned vocals tending to go high pitch without taking hints of early 90s Black Metal growls, several impressive soloing displaying admiration for classic Metal. As you would probably hear, the material of "Evil Through Darkness… And Darkness Through Death" is more or less a reprise for earlier releases of the genre but still keeping the old flame of this mixture burning hot. It will be easy to get caught under the flames of the riffing, and the molesting rhythms, especially the mid tempos that seemed more evil than the deranged thunderstorms. The main issue of mine with this release is the fact that the songs are good but recycle themselves in the verge of sounding undistinguishable.

"Christ Denier" and "Undead Revenge" seemed to stand out from the rest of the tracks on the album, especially from the mediocre, and utterly banal, performances of "De-baptizer" and "Back From The Grave". These two actually have a fine chorus, fiercely attacking with hard to the core speed and great mid tempo riff carnages of the basics but easy to comprehend and indulge. EVIL SHEPHERD are evil bastards no doubt, especially reminding me of MINOTAUR's newer releases. I also liked the final clincher, "Darkness Through Death (Black Mass)", the second part of the title that chopped the opener, "Evil Through Darkness" that charged strongly but without any special peak moments, delivered its doctrine pretty good, not to special, but great for a bloody moshpit. Occult features and malicious misgivings have been part of Metal's legacy and probably forever will because it is the suitable grounds for the creation of such deepened manifestations. In short, I enjoyed this release. It was produced just as a release of the kind should be. With great energies and a halo of darkness, EVIL SHEPHERD did well for the black kind of Thrash Metal while entrusting their music to the realms of 80s Heavy Metal.