A Masterpiece
When it was recently announced by the mighty NME that thrash metal was making a come back the whole metal scene were thankful that NME's had its finger on the pulse of metal because we had no idea. Exodus, Onslaught, Destruction, Kreator, Overkill, Death Angel, Slayer and Testament amongst many others were playing thrash and more thrash and the devoted fans were lapping it up. Now that the magazines have become bored with 'core' and 'emo' it's returning to one of the corner stones metal itself.
This has something to do with the emergence of young thrash bands such as SSS, Municipal Waste and Evile. The latter is a band I've been championing ever since I saw them at Bloodstock Open Air in 2006. Thankfully someone in Earache had also noticed their potential and given them a deal because Evile are a band who have the ability and songs to steam roller over any current trend and perhaps become Britain's saviours of metal.
This album has rarely been out of my CD player since the moment it dropped through my letterbox. It is sheer thrash brilliance from start to finish by a young quartet who have a complete understanding of its subject, semantics and creative process. The band have employed the skills of Metallica's classic era producer Flemming Rasmussen and it's obvious in the CD's title track that 'Enter the Grave' enhances the aggression, attitude and spirit of those early Metallica albums. The disc is uncompromising in its delivery hitting the listener with lightning pace (Armoured Assault), haunting them with dark clean guitars and grinding rhythms (We who are about to Die) and enticing them to pump those fists in the air (First Blood).
This isn't just a throwback to the 80's, it's a revitalised, rejuvenated and intense slab of all that is great about the sub-genre. 'Enter the Grave' is a modern masterpiece and will set the standard by which all new thrash bands will be judged. The guitar work is electric, the drums precise and vocals are perfectly pitched between growling and cleaning singing. Flemming's production is raw, the mix is faultless, the guitars are not overly tampered with and there's plenty of bass if the fans of "...And Justice For All" are getting worried.
Unlike most of modern metal, this isn't just one song re-written ten times, there is enough variation in the song writing to keep the attention long after many albums have been consigned to the bottom of the collection. Every song has its own identity and it's difficult to pick out a couple of stand out tracks, but 'Armoured Assault', 'Thrasher', 'Burned Alive' and 'Killer from the Deep' are truly stunning pieces of metal.
If you're like me and hunger for heads down thrash metal with guitar players that shred like their lives depended on it, play riff after riff after riff after riff of quality metal yet all the time keep that sense of melody and ability to keep a song catchy then you need this album in your life. I can't praise 'Enter the Grave' enough and I feel it could be an essential release in spearheading not only their career but for all the other new thrash bands emerging around Britain.
Release date 27th August so you've got no excuse, get it NOW!