EVILDEAD
“Toxic Grace”
Album Review by Iron Mathew

9/10

EvilDead are a thrash metal band from the USA formed in 1987, releasing four albums across a thirty six year career that’s seen the band break-up twice (1995 & 2012) and suffer a number of line-up changes! The bands fourth album ‘Toxic Grace’ (released in 2024) follows 1989’s ‘Annihilation Of Civilization’, 1991’s ‘The Underworld’, and 2020’s ‘United States Of Anarchy’, and is a ferocious nine song rampage across a blistering thirty six minutes…

…featuring a wide array of metal styles! From the bands thrash metal roots through to doom, death and traditional heavy metal, there really is something here for every thrasher and metaller on the planet! ‘F.A.F.O.’ (‘Fuck Around & Find Out’) sets the album on its weighty way – the band at full stride as ‘F.A.F.O.’ hits hard and kicks harder! The pace, power and intent is gonna crush everything in sight, EvilDead in defiantly mean mood as ‘Toxic Grace’ marches on with the faster paced ‘Reverie’. And what a pace – a pace so devastating that ‘Reverie’ is gonna scorch the earth as it hurtles on by! And is that a little punk attitude tucked in there too? Methinks yes – the band adopting the mighty Motorhead sound, and thrashing it up! Big time! And on the evidence of the (albums) opening brace, I was right to say “there’s something here for everyone”, the band raising hell with the NWOBHM sounding ‘Raising Fresh Hell’ – the guitar tone anyway! For ‘Raising Fresh Hell’ remains firmly in thrash metal territory, dipping just its toes over the border wall into traditional heavy metal country! What a varied, yet engaging threesome to get your new album underway.

An album that brings a little touch of death metal to the fore as ‘Stupid On Parade’ enters the fray to maintain the incredible intensity ‘Toxic Grace’ began with – EvilDead keeping a tight grip on everyones attentions! And keeping their heads banging too, the level of head bang ability sky fucking high – ‘Subjagated Souls’ stepping hard on the accelerator to gallop forth ala traditional metal! The band are on a grand tour of metal territory, taking in the sights of thrash, doom, death and traditional heavy metal, pleasing a very wide array of listeners. And to be honest, I’d place EvilDead alongside fellow countrymen Mordred, Nuclear Assault, Sacred Reich and Toxik with regards to displaying cross-over tendencies! The band are hopping from genre to genre just like a kangaroo hops everywhere – ‘Bathe In Fire’ landing briefly in doom before hopping border walls once again! And even though ‘Toxic Grace’ constantly jumps from one metal style to another, there is absolutely no loss of interest whatsoever! For listeners interests are kept peaked by the anticipative nature of the albums flow, always guessing as to which direction the band are gonna go in next! Simply incredible stuff from the American thrashers.

‘Poetic Omen’ sees – or rather hears – the band at their darkest, meanest and moodiest, with doom meeting thrash in a mighty explosive way! The changing pace of the album has been mind boggling, from all out speed to a brutal foot stomp and everything in-between, EvilDead keeping everyone on their toes – toes that are twitching and itching with excited anticipation! For the album chugs on with the thundering instrumental ‘World ov Rats’ – emanating a savage fury that threatens to destroy buildings and crush skulls! The heaviness here is phenomenal, much heavier than everything heard so far, EvilDead aiming to break bones with brutal precision across the instrumentals two minute run time! And bringing ‘Toxic Grace’ to a close is probably the most intriguing song out of the nine on offer, ‘Fear Porn’ – the band increasing the pace ten-fold to set every mosh pit in the world on fire! The head bang ability goes through the fucking roof too – and whoa! What’s that? As ‘Fear Porn’ gets fully into its stride, the riffing is insanely similar to that of Metallica’s ‘Battery’ (the opening song from the bands seminal 1986 album ‘Master Of Puppets’). Whether a coincidence or a spectacular homage to the thrash metal legends, ‘Fear Porn’ is fast paced, ferocious thrash as it should be!

Overall, a myriad of metal styles covering everything from thrash to death to doom, ‘Toxic Grace’ is a varied and intriguing listen.

TRACKLIST

F.A.F.O.
Reverie
Raising Fresh Hell
Stupid On Parade
Subjugated Souls
Bathe In Fire
Poetic Omen
World ov Rats
Fear Porn

https://evil-dead.bandcamp.com/
http://www.facebook.com/Evildead.Official

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