Evile - Five Serpent's Teeth
Losing a band member is the worst thing that could ever happen to a band. Evile bassist Mike Alexander tragically passed away from a pulmonary embolism in Sweden just a week after the release of 2009's "Infected Nations", a heartbreaking loss that cast severe doubt over the band's future. After recruiting Joel Graham to fill the void that was left, Evile have returned with their third album "Five Serpent's Teeth" - an album that has without a doubt been hotly anticipated by most in the metal community, not just fans of the band. It's difficult enough to make a third album - usually the definitive 'make or break' release for bands - but doing so after such a tremendous loss must pile on the pressure in a way I couldn't even begin to imagine.
It's evident from the beginning that if there's one thing "Five Serpent's Teeth" possesses, it's raw unadulterated passion. This is the sound of a band pouring their hearts and souls into the music, venting all of the frustration, sadness and hatred into 55 minutes of music without caring for any sort of tags or labels. A great rarity that would be nothing if they didn't have the songs to back it up with - and the band have evolved as songwriters at an absolutely staggering rate. It's almost impossible to believe that this is the band that released the good-but-generic-as-hell "Enter the Grave" back in 2007, and although the band have toned down some of the astronomical technicalities and progressive structures present on "Infected Nations", they still manage to leave 99% of modern thrash acts biting dust. The key to this? Hooks. Not only with their riffs, but with the vocals - Matt Drake's voice is absolutely phenominal on this record, and his singing has drastically improved upon his marmite-y performance on the last album as he now boasts a deadly mix of soaring cleans, a much tighter and well-trained melodic thrash bark and even some slight growls here and there. His lyrics and structuring are much better than before, keeping songs fresh through and through without too much repetition - listen to the title track and the immense 'Long Live New Flesh' for some ridiculously catchy lines and arrangements, proof that Matt is really a forward-thinking musician with no time for half-baked content. Some sections of 'In Dreams of Terror' and the stomping single 'Cult' are truely anthemic in their nature, securing Matt's position as one of the best frontmen to emerge in the last decade... a position that he deserves more than anybody, if you ask me.
Musically, the album may come as a surprise to fans of Evile's previous works - it's exceptionally melodic. Not in a cheesy power metal way, but there's a concrete presence of harmonies - and not just with the guitars - that really came out of left field upon the first listen, though the really eerie sounding melodies that cropped up on "Infected Nations" are still present here that help with giving the album an almost sinister tone to it. And there's even a 'ballad' featuring a solo by Matt and Ol's father Tony Drake (Pilgrym) in the form of 'In Memoriam', a beautiful piece of work that's quite obviously the band's sincere dedication to Mike Alexander - I almost feared hearing this at first, as ballads don't seem to go down well in thrash (unless we're talking about Heathen) but it's a genuinely marvellous piece of music that brings a tear to your eye. In my opinion, it's by far the best track on the entire CD. Alas, fear not - despite the increased melody ratio the band still rocks out a lot of mindblowingly fast thrash, with some parts of 'In Dreams of Terror' and 'Descent Into Madness' boardering on the realms of ridiculous and the halfway point of 'Long Live New Flesh' rocking the 'Russian Roulette' riff from 2005's "Hell Demo", which will please many of us longtime fans. The band's performance is tight as hell, with Ol Drake being as stupidly technical with his solos as usual and the so-called 'new guy', Joel Graham, playing bass with his fingers - nothing short of a monumental feat considering some of the aforementioned speed. Ben Carter's drumming is excellent too, as he's surprisingly precise with some bizarre off-beats here and there that must've been extremely difficult to perfect - made all the better by Russ Russell's production job, giving the drums a fantastic sound... moreso than any other instrument in my opinion. Being their second album with Russ, it's good to hear an improvement in all areas production wise and it's easy to understand why Evile have decided to work with him again after the stellar job he did with the previous record.
This being said, "Five Serpent's Teeth" feels like it should've been released before their previous album as it harkens back to the more straightforward, thrashy approach of their debut whilst still containing some of the marvellous elements that made their sophomore effort so appealing... almost feeling like a slight step back in some cases. It's still a radically different album from both of their previous efforts, it's just slightly strange to see the band abandon their previous record's winning formula - however, this is purely down to my personal opinion. Regardless, Evile's "Five Serpent's Teeth" is one of the finest examples of pure, raw emotion that any band could hope to achieve and considering everything that they've been through, they deserve nothing but your utmost respect for fighting through it and coming out on the other side. No nepotism here - this is a fitting tribute to their fallen comrade and one of the best releases of 2011, if not the past several years. A colossal achievement.
It's evident from the beginning that if there's one thing "Five Serpent's Teeth" possesses, it's raw unadulterated passion. This is the sound of a band pouring their hearts and souls into the music, venting all of the frustration, sadness and hatred into 55 minutes of music without caring for any sort of tags or labels. A great rarity that would be nothing if they didn't have the songs to back it up with - and the band have evolved as songwriters at an absolutely staggering rate. It's almost impossible to believe that this is the band that released the good-but-generic-as-hell "Enter the Grave" back in 2007, and although the band have toned down some of the astronomical technicalities and progressive structures present on "Infected Nations", they still manage to leave 99% of modern thrash acts biting dust. The key to this? Hooks. Not only with their riffs, but with the vocals - Matt Drake's voice is absolutely phenominal on this record, and his singing has drastically improved upon his marmite-y performance on the last album as he now boasts a deadly mix of soaring cleans, a much tighter and well-trained melodic thrash bark and even some slight growls here and there. His lyrics and structuring are much better than before, keeping songs fresh through and through without too much repetition - listen to the title track and the immense 'Long Live New Flesh' for some ridiculously catchy lines and arrangements, proof that Matt is really a forward-thinking musician with no time for half-baked content. Some sections of 'In Dreams of Terror' and the stomping single 'Cult' are truely anthemic in their nature, securing Matt's position as one of the best frontmen to emerge in the last decade... a position that he deserves more than anybody, if you ask me.
Musically, the album may come as a surprise to fans of Evile's previous works - it's exceptionally melodic. Not in a cheesy power metal way, but there's a concrete presence of harmonies - and not just with the guitars - that really came out of left field upon the first listen, though the really eerie sounding melodies that cropped up on "Infected Nations" are still present here that help with giving the album an almost sinister tone to it. And there's even a 'ballad' featuring a solo by Matt and Ol's father Tony Drake (Pilgrym) in the form of 'In Memoriam', a beautiful piece of work that's quite obviously the band's sincere dedication to Mike Alexander - I almost feared hearing this at first, as ballads don't seem to go down well in thrash (unless we're talking about Heathen) but it's a genuinely marvellous piece of music that brings a tear to your eye. In my opinion, it's by far the best track on the entire CD. Alas, fear not - despite the increased melody ratio the band still rocks out a lot of mindblowingly fast thrash, with some parts of 'In Dreams of Terror' and 'Descent Into Madness' boardering on the realms of ridiculous and the halfway point of 'Long Live New Flesh' rocking the 'Russian Roulette' riff from 2005's "Hell Demo", which will please many of us longtime fans. The band's performance is tight as hell, with Ol Drake being as stupidly technical with his solos as usual and the so-called 'new guy', Joel Graham, playing bass with his fingers - nothing short of a monumental feat considering some of the aforementioned speed. Ben Carter's drumming is excellent too, as he's surprisingly precise with some bizarre off-beats here and there that must've been extremely difficult to perfect - made all the better by Russ Russell's production job, giving the drums a fantastic sound... moreso than any other instrument in my opinion. Being their second album with Russ, it's good to hear an improvement in all areas production wise and it's easy to understand why Evile have decided to work with him again after the stellar job he did with the previous record.
This being said, "Five Serpent's Teeth" feels like it should've been released before their previous album as it harkens back to the more straightforward, thrashy approach of their debut whilst still containing some of the marvellous elements that made their sophomore effort so appealing... almost feeling like a slight step back in some cases. It's still a radically different album from both of their previous efforts, it's just slightly strange to see the band abandon their previous record's winning formula - however, this is purely down to my personal opinion. Regardless, Evile's "Five Serpent's Teeth" is one of the finest examples of pure, raw emotion that any band could hope to achieve and considering everything that they've been through, they deserve nothing but your utmost respect for fighting through it and coming out on the other side. No nepotism here - this is a fitting tribute to their fallen comrade and one of the best releases of 2011, if not the past several years. A colossal achievement.
1. Five Serpent's Teeth
2. In Dreams Of Terror
3. Cult
4. Eternal Empire
5. Xaraya
6. Origin Of Oblivion
7. Centurion
8. In Memoriam
9. Descent Into Madness
10. Long Live New Flesh
2. In Dreams Of Terror
3. Cult
4. Eternal Empire
5. Xaraya
6. Origin Of Oblivion
7. Centurion
8. In Memoriam
9. Descent Into Madness
10. Long Live New Flesh
Label: http://www.earache.com
Reviewer: Dave Ingram Jr.
Aug 22, 2011
Aug 22, 2011
Next review:
The Last Hangmen - Servants Of Justice
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