PlanetMosh Keeping it Metal
After two years of waiting UK thrashers Evile are back in Dublin to tour their new album “Skull” and lead a night of thrash in the Irish capital. The crowd was pumped throughout the night so let’s get to this.
Opening support came from Scimitar. The lads from up north took to the stage to kick things off with a bang. They launched through their set of sonic death infused thrash. The crowd ate this up and it went down a storm as did the toy swords they gave to the audience. Yes, that is a thing that happened.
On to the Irish lads; Dublin thrashers Psykosis were next after a short change over and the crowd was into all of their material. Being one of the hottest acts from the Dublin scene, Psykosis are always fun and I always enjoying watching them play. They’re straight up party thrash and that’s okay. It’s a good time with a good bunch of lads. I can’t wait to hear the album when it drops. The only nit-pick I have is that I would like to hear a few newer songs from the lads in their live set but if you have a chance to see Psykosis live in your area, get to the venue and party like it’s 1988.
Evile came out to a good reaction from the audience. Let’s face it, this show was two years in the making and expectations were high. People were excited to see them, I was excited to see them and then the set started. It was okay; but I it felt that something was missing. Coming off a forced hiatus seems to have hurt the band as a unit; the set was strong but not what I was hoping for.
The show was built around “Skull” which was played in its entirety. This was the band’s fourth album and was released in 2013 prior to guitarist Ol Drake leaving the band. Eyes were definitely on how Piers would perform in his new role with the band and he handled the duties with aplomb. ‘Head of the Demon’, ‘Tomb’ and the title track ‘Skull’, were splendid and definitely blew off the cobwebs. I applaud the band for sticking to their guns and standing by the new-ish material but some of the slow sections killed the atmosphere of a “thrash gig”. I got bored; and I was annoyed at that. The further away from the pit in the venue you got, the more this was the case.
On the plus side, the pit was crazy and the fans at the front venue had a great time. By the end of the show, as the older songs began to flow, momentum was back on track and the thrash guns were well and truly primed. Matt, Ben, Piers and Joel played great and as a show it was good. I enjoyed the older stuff from “Enter the Grave” and the encore of “Thrasher” was a highlight of the show. The show was okay and a fun night was had by everyone but there wasn’t enough here to make me rave about it.
This is the beginning of a new era for Evile and I hope the guys return on the back of a killer new album and with more shows under their belts. They’ll be back, bigger and better. I know it.
The new Evile album “Skull” is out now on Century Media/Earache Records.
Photos by Anamaria Meiu
[flickrapi user=”planet mosh” get=”photoset” id=”72157659332801951″ size=”z” count=”100″]
