Band:	Evile
Album:	Enter The Grave
Style:	Thrash metal
Release date:	August 27, 2007
Guest review by:	HugeTheConqeror

Disc I
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
11. Darkness Shall Bring Death [demo][bonus]
12. Sacrifical [demo][bonus]
13. Enter The Grave [demo] [bonus]

Disc II [bonus]
+ Enter The Album [exclusive content featuring live performances from the album, as well as coverage of the creation of the new album as well as some funny extras]
+ autographed guitar pick from either Mike Alexander [bassist], Matt Drake [rhythm guitarist] or Ol Drake [lead guitarist]
+ Enter The Grave album patch

This is 80's Thrash. Not melodic hardcore pseudo-metal calling itself Thrash. This is the real deal.

With their debut release, Evile are clearly stuck in the 80's. Every track on this album is pure old-school Thrash, and even casual listeners will not have difficulty picking out the early Slayer and Metallica influences. The vocals are almost indistinguishable from Tom Araya (pre- Seasons in the Abyss), and the riffing sounds like it came straight from Reign in Blood. Lyrically, it takes little imagination to map many of the tracks directly to songs from the 80's: "Thrasher" (-> "Metal Militia"), "Burned Alive" (-> "Am I Evil"), "Schizophrenia" (-> "The Frayed Ends Of Sanity"), "Bathe in Blood" (-> umm . . .). Even one of the tracks with no direct 80's counterpart draws its inspiration from an action film of the same era ("First Blood").

The material here is so derivative that it would be easy to just dismiss it as simple Slayer worship. That is, if it weren't done so well. The performances here are fantastic, actually better that the musicianship from many of the bands who pioneered Thrash over twenty years ago. What Evile lack in originality, they deliver in musicianship and variety. Multiple tempos appear throughout the album, preventing the listener from ever becoming bored. The strongest track, "We Who Are About to Die," is a mostly mid-tempo song, beautifully divided with an uptempo shift and a couple of blistering solos. Had these guys made the scene during its heyday, Evile would not be derivative, but rather skillful practitioners in a fresh genre, and critics now would likely be considering them alongside the likes of Exodus and Testament.

This is enjoyable Thrash, and those who long for a return to the unpretentious approach to metal of the original Thrash era should pick this up without any hesitation. These guys have plenty of talent, and obviously have tremendous respect for the genre. Evile will be a band to watch closely as they develop their own creative voice.