Evile - Enter The Grave (2007)

Well, this was the album that had the new thrash fans on the block salivating, Evile, alongside Municipal Waste being held responsible for the new wave of thrash currently bombarding our ears. Of course, if you never grew up in the '80s or were completely unaware of the history of thrash, then you might find Evile's debut album a real punishing experience, an eye-opener in fact, but for me there's nothing here that I haven't heard before. The usual Slayer, Metallica, Testament, Exodus blah blah blah rants become all too predictable once we've reached the third track. Sure these guys are accomplished musicians, but if this had been released back in the mid '80s then Evile wouldn't have been heralded as thrash kinds whatsoever - this is your usual chug fest with archetype thrash lyrics and hints of Anthrax mosh, but vocally it's a rather dire affair, Matt Drake does nothing for me amidst the formulaic weight. I guess this opus came out at the right time, and tracks like 'Thrasher,' 'Burned Alive' and 'Killer From The Deep' have the childish charm of retro bubblegum, but there's a distinct lack of spite let alone originality here. I'm sorry but if you can spend an hour listening to 'Enter The Grave' then you clearly haven't got anything else decent in your record collection. More recently born thrash-heads will find the Evile experience a wet dream, but for me it's a tried and tested affair that sounds no better than Xentrix, Deathwish, Toranaga etc, who, decades previous had already trodden this same path, and failed.
6/10