Evile - Skull

Evile

Skull

by Daniel Silva at 30 May 2013, 1:49 PM

I have been following EVILE ever since their first album, it was also the first time I had become aware of the so-called Second Wave of Thrash Metal, a new crop of young thrashers paying homage to the 80s sound, although in some cases bands were simply copying what had already been done, EVILE was one of the few bands who expanded upon these ideas by incorporating their own version of what they wanted, creating this way their own niche in this new wave of Thrash.

Listening to their albums it is obvious their evolution not only as a band but of their sound, “Enter the Grave” was a full-on aggressive album but filled with clichés, “Infected Nations” showed they weren’t afraid to experiment and ditch the comfort zone so many neo-thrash bands were afraid to leave, “Five Serpent’s Teeth” was the culmination of their long search for their sound, mixing the complexity of their sophomore album with the aggression of their debut, and finally comes “Skull”, what can be said about this album?

The first time I listened to it, it felt the songs of this album could have just as easily had been on “Five Serpent’s Teeth”, this statement probably sounds a lot worse than I actually mean it, the complex riffs and technical solos of Ol Drake, the mature lyrics of Matt Drake, the monster beats of Ben Carter on the drums and the punch-in-the-stomach feel of the bass of Joel Graham, all make a return on this album not to mention the production duties that are once again being handled by Russ Russell.  “Skull” shows a band that has found its sound and that possesses a good rapport with each other creating a tightly-knit unit.

Two years after releasing “Five Serpent’s Teeth”, one of my favorites Thrash albums of 2011, EVILE releases its follow-up in “Skull”, which I can say it has become one of my favorite Thrash album of this year.