French cuisine is weird with frog leg and snail dishes, but so is/has been the country's metal music scene for a big part. Evil One, on the other hand, are one of those bands who do not sound French at all. The band's old school metal is nothing too original, but it's a nice mixture of some cool genres. 'Militia of Death' is their third album to date, but first one for me to experience.
The title track starts the album and is an energetic thrasher, in old Bay Area style. If this isn't influenced by 'Kill 'Em All' (1983), I'll eat my hat filled with raw, slimy snails! Mach 3 speed guitar solo provided by Annihilator axeman Jeff Waters enlivens the song even further. The vocals are well suited thrashy singing, Ã la Joey Belladonna (Anthrax) and Russ Anderson (Forbidden). Catchy 'Evil Invasion' introduces more heavy metal bits, especially NWOBHM style harmony guitars, to Evil One's sound. 'In the Dead of the Night' is good ol' heavy metal, with huge Accept influences, but vocals are more in thrash metal vein. I should mention the heavy use of gang backing vocals throughout the album. The following songs 'Straight to Hell' and 'Baptized by Fire' are also more heavy metal tinged. It's clear, that Evil One can pen memorable tunes for sure.
However, the album takes a turn to worse, because slower, melancholic 'Memories' is only average in quality. It is not 'Fade to Black', but thankfully not a cheesy piano ballad either. Next it's time for Accept's 'Fast as a Shark', which is well covered, but still just a cover. Heavy metal piece 'Suicide Fanatics' steers the album back on the right track. Herman Frank of Accept plays guitar solo here. 'Instrumetal' is a good song, but could have utilized vocals, too. 'Militia of Beer' is a fast thrash attack with some real familiar riffs and voice... It's Tankard's Gerre singing about his favourite topic, alcohol, and Tankard tribute is heard, too. It's a good ending for the album, which second half is, sadly, patchy as hell. Well, the closer isn't actually close to 8 minutes long, because there are three minutes of silence before the album ends with some insane stuff. As I said; patchy!
The vocals are pretty thrashy all the way, as mentioned. Plus, very melodic. Some of the vocal melodies aren't fully convincing, because they leave impressions of not hitting totally right notes. This does not happen too often, so it's not a big issue. The performances from the instrumentalists are energetic and skilled. The guests add their fingerprints and bring in some variety, whether they are playing guitar or singing. I'm satisfied with the production on this album, which is... Well, metal 'n' loud.
'Militia of Death' isn't anything new, but when it's working this well, then those who are interested in the mixture of heavy metal and thrash metal, this album is not too be bypassed. I like the band's energy and chracteristic touches. The band have a new vocalist now, and if they can compose more solid album next time around, it'll be really interesting to hear what the result might be.
Rating: 7 (out of 10) ratings explained
Reviewed by Lane
01/22/2011 19:59
