http://www.onemetal.com/2011/09/26/evile-five-serpents-teeth/
As resident thrasher, it was always going to fall to me to take this one on, really. Huddersfields Evile have had the somewhat unenviable weight of expectation upon them since their first album came out back in 2007 Enter The Grave was a sterling chunk of British thrash, if a little too in thrall to the bands influences. Following it quickly with Infected Nations in 2009, another belter of a record overshadowed by the sad loss of their bassist Mike Alexander shortly after the albums release. Replacing Mike with Joel Graham at the tail-end of that year, 2010 was mostly spent touring and work on album number three was confirmed as having begun in May this year.
Well, its been a good while since an album tweaked THIS old thrash fans ears in quite this way Five Serpents Teeth is an unequivocal barnstormer. Straight from the off, Evile go for the throat razor-sharp riffs, oodles of shredding and a dash of proper old-school mosh action all before the first song is out of the way. Upping the already frantic pace to launch into In Dreams Of Terror, the Drake brothers lay down a not-inconsiderable challenge to any other bands aiming to release a record in this style any time soon, with a finger-blurring intro riff that recurs throughout the track before settling into a stomping mid-paced pattern for the main verse that practically insists you circle-pit until you pass out.
Hitting velocities previously unknown on thrash records from the UK (and rarely from anywhere else), Eternal Empire is another bona fide face-remover, with a solo so ridiculous that the first time I heard it I actually uttered the words Jesus shuddering buggery, you flash BASTARD!, they then slow it down for Xaraya. Displaying a finely-tuned sense of what makes an album more than just a collection of songs, the pacing of Five Serpents Teeth is excellent for every track that stuns you with a whirlwind of notes, theres another like this with melody to spare and shot through with massive harmonised hooks, both musical and vocal.
Even the occasionally-maligned vocals of Matt Drake have taken a large step forward on this record for me, Matt was the weakest part of Evile on the previous two albums. Whilst hell never be a classically great singer in the sense that the likes of Forbiddens Russ Anderson can claim, his work here is a vast melodic improvement and now propels the songs in the right direction rather than occasionally holding them back.
The trick that Evile have managed here is a cracker, and one that so few bands ever manage taking the sum of your influences and turning them into a sound that belongs to you and you alone. Of course you can hear flashes of the greats sprinkled throughout, operating in this sphere will always draw those comparisons, but Eviles delivery is all their own. This added to the crystal-clear production job by Russ Russell, allied to the fact that their songwriting has matured hugely for Five Serpents Teeth and now finally matched their always huge playing ability, makes for nothing less than a thoroughly monstrous album
Bottom Line
You'll be hard-pressed to find a better all-round thrash record this year, by my reckoning. Five Serpent's Teeth sees Evile live up to every single bit of hype they've ever received, with nothing but great songs and jaw-dropping playing from start to end.
5/5
As resident thrasher, it was always going to fall to me to take this one on, really. Huddersfields Evile have had the somewhat unenviable weight of expectation upon them since their first album came out back in 2007 Enter The Grave was a sterling chunk of British thrash, if a little too in thrall to the bands influences. Following it quickly with Infected Nations in 2009, another belter of a record overshadowed by the sad loss of their bassist Mike Alexander shortly after the albums release. Replacing Mike with Joel Graham at the tail-end of that year, 2010 was mostly spent touring and work on album number three was confirmed as having begun in May this year.
Well, its been a good while since an album tweaked THIS old thrash fans ears in quite this way Five Serpents Teeth is an unequivocal barnstormer. Straight from the off, Evile go for the throat razor-sharp riffs, oodles of shredding and a dash of proper old-school mosh action all before the first song is out of the way. Upping the already frantic pace to launch into In Dreams Of Terror, the Drake brothers lay down a not-inconsiderable challenge to any other bands aiming to release a record in this style any time soon, with a finger-blurring intro riff that recurs throughout the track before settling into a stomping mid-paced pattern for the main verse that practically insists you circle-pit until you pass out.
Hitting velocities previously unknown on thrash records from the UK (and rarely from anywhere else), Eternal Empire is another bona fide face-remover, with a solo so ridiculous that the first time I heard it I actually uttered the words Jesus shuddering buggery, you flash BASTARD!, they then slow it down for Xaraya. Displaying a finely-tuned sense of what makes an album more than just a collection of songs, the pacing of Five Serpents Teeth is excellent for every track that stuns you with a whirlwind of notes, theres another like this with melody to spare and shot through with massive harmonised hooks, both musical and vocal.
Even the occasionally-maligned vocals of Matt Drake have taken a large step forward on this record for me, Matt was the weakest part of Evile on the previous two albums. Whilst hell never be a classically great singer in the sense that the likes of Forbiddens Russ Anderson can claim, his work here is a vast melodic improvement and now propels the songs in the right direction rather than occasionally holding them back.
The trick that Evile have managed here is a cracker, and one that so few bands ever manage taking the sum of your influences and turning them into a sound that belongs to you and you alone. Of course you can hear flashes of the greats sprinkled throughout, operating in this sphere will always draw those comparisons, but Eviles delivery is all their own. This added to the crystal-clear production job by Russ Russell, allied to the fact that their songwriting has matured hugely for Five Serpents Teeth and now finally matched their always huge playing ability, makes for nothing less than a thoroughly monstrous album
Bottom Line
You'll be hard-pressed to find a better all-round thrash record this year, by my reckoning. Five Serpent's Teeth sees Evile live up to every single bit of hype they've ever received, with nothing but great songs and jaw-dropping playing from start to end.
5/5
