Evile – Five Serpent’s Teeth

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Judging English thrashers Evile’s popularity accurately is currently quite difficult from within the UK, as they’re pushed so hard here it seems like they’re pretty huge, but the overwhelming opinion of their second album Infected Nations outside of the UK was on the underwhelming side. It certainly had its faults, but all of them have been corrected on Five Serpent’s Teeth. Vocalist Matt Drake has advanced himself as a singer in a big way. Where on Infected Nations it felt like he was trying too hard to be angry and aggresive, here he has improved his technical approach to singing, making his voice sound markedly better, more controlled, and more melodic, meaning he can let the aggression of the songs speak for itself without forcing it. Similarly the band have made themselves sound far more like Evile, highlighting the aspects of their sound that were their own more than on previous material. What that boils down to is a lot more complexity in many of the riffs, some great groove on tracks like Eternal Empire, and come hugely monstrous choruses, like lead single Cult. It has to be said that the tracks they’ve chosen to play live so far (Eternal Emppire, Cult, Long Live New Flesh and Xaraya) are probably the best ones, with one exception (magnificent tribute to departed bassist Mike Alexander In Memorium), so fans will likely have heard the best of the disc before they’ve bought it, but there’s still some serious thrash playing to be heard on the other tracks. In Dreams of Terror, for instance, is probably the fastest song they’ve ever done, and the solo on the otherwise (intentionally) silly Descent Into Madness is blistering. All in all, Five Serpent’s Teeth is Evile’s best album so far.

Written by Andy Lye
More: 2011, Albums, Quick.Play Reviews, Thrash Metal, Evile