If your musical tastes have barely changed since 1982, or if you are only now “discovering” the “New” Wave Of British Heavy Metal, then it would be a sin for you to miss out on Evil and their Book Of Evil.
The impetus for the original movement may have been British but Evil are a Danish outfit who emerged from their own country’s Metal scene, along with the likes of Artillery and Mercyful Fate (see Metallica’s Garage Inc, plus Psycho Las Vegas 2022). Copenhagen’s Evil seemed to disappear (oooh, spooky!) around 1985 and now, after an unfulfilled 2015 resurrection bid, they are back making a racket with vocalist Martin Steene (Iron Fire) and original drummer Freddie Wolf now ensconced front of stage with his geetars. Henrik Molin takes on the skins, fills etc and the current line-up is completed by bassist Jakob Haugaard and another guitarist, Nikolaj Ihlemann.
After the suitably doomy spoken-word Intro (A Terrible Thing), the new 10-song album kicks off properly with Divine Conspiracy, singer Steele’s voice and style recalling Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson (not to mention an old Samson singer called Bruce Bruce – whatever happened to him?!). The track is very, very formula but succeeds as something of a rousing and raucous opener.
Evil Never Dies is a highlight with its shout-along chorus and moshy breakdown, while Future Denied is hooky as well as spooky. The lyrics throughout run the usual gamut of “haunting your every footstep”, “from the cradle to the grave”, “just like a snake in the Garden of Eden”, walking hand in hand with this, kneeling before that, the abyss calling out for you to do the other.
A rumbling bass intro leads us to The Raven Throne which is melodic yet manic and another showcase for Steene’s voice. Sanctuary echoes a good ol’ Maiden title, of course, and is a thunderous drum track while Storm Warning’s solo is a cut above. All the songs are no-nonsense three or four-minute rockers until the two closing tracks, both at seven minutes-plus.
The title Evils Message (what’s an apostrophe between Metal mates?) really does take us back in time, and the titular finale keeps some of the best ’til last with more subtlety and melody than much, if not all, that has gone before. If you were to call Evil “old school”, I’m sure they would take it as a compliment. Yes, their “reborn” modus operandi now includes various aspects of more modern Metal but they are still firmly “traditional”, as influenced by the afore-mentioned NWOBHM – back in the mid-1970s to ’80s, when Saxon, Judas Priest, Diamond Head and the like helped forge a whole new Metal musical world.
It was Venom in 1982 whose album and song Black Metal declared: “Black is the night, metal we fight/ Power amps set to explode/ Energy screams, magic and dreams/ Satan records the first note.” Since then, the Black Metal genre has grown myriad and macabre arms and legs but Evil are not as operatic or Viking-y as fellow Scandinavians Enslaved, or as Gothic and theatrical as Cradle Of Filth. Nor are they as brash or (allegedly) blasphemous as Poland’s Behemoth, or as off-the-scale-bonkers as the experimental Full Of Hell.
So don’t let the whole Evil name and Book Of Evil title give you the heebie-jeebies. I can hear De Richleau (Christopher Lee) in Hammer’s The Devil Rides Out (1968) saying: “I’d rather see you dead than meddling with Black Magic!” or “In the name of God, you dare not!” and then I chuckle to myself. Yes, it can be a genuinely scary movie, but it’s also a hoot. Evil’s delivery seems completely straight-faced but, all in all, it’s fine, formulaic fun.
Evil’s Book Of Evil, produced by Tue Madsen (Mnemic, Cataract, Meshuggah), is out on Friday (May 27), via From The Vaults