Every now and then, an old-school style band gets their moment in the sun. The revival of the nostalgic sounds in every genre is being more and more revisited, especially in the thrash and heavy metal areas (this last one commonly known as NWOTHM). Before the Bay-Area thrash phenomenon came to be, bands like Razor, Exciter and Agent Steel played a brand of metal that was fast and aggressive; that particular style became what we now call speed metal.
If you are a fan of any of those bands that I mentioned, you must know by now that the Evil Invaders name was taken from a Razor album, so the worshiping of 80’s speed metal is strong with these guys. Having been around for quite some time now, the Belgians have a single, an EP and a debut album in their baggage – all which were objects of acclaim in some degree. Feeding again on bullet-belts, old-school elements and ridiculously fast instrumentals, the boys from Leopoldsburg are back to attack with ‘Feed Me Violence’.
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Right from the first song, “Mental Penitentiary”, it becomes clear that the sophomore effort far surpasses its predecessor, without losing any of the (not so) unique elements that made Evil Invaders a band to keep an eye on. Vicious guitar lines by Jöe Anus and debuting band member Max Mayhem are overflowing and wholesome, the drumming work by Senne Jacobs is absolutely crazy and the bass lines by Joeri van de Schoot eat their way into your stereo like termites in an old wooden wardrobe. The song itself feels like the guys from Destruction snorted 100 pounds of cocaine and went straight into the recording studio; it’s calamitously fun.
The fast-paced tempo, for that matter, dictates the rhythm of the album almost entirely. Tracks like “Feed Me Violence” and “Oblivion” are tailor-made for mosh pits, while the more versatile “As Life Slowly Fades” bets on virtuous guitar solos and thrashier parts like the main verse. The solos in the whole record, by the way, are one of the best features here, being prolific, respectable and even goddamn awesome at times.
While Jöe Anus’ guitar skills are more than reliable, though, his vocals are somewhat of a love or hate situation. There are times when he completely obliterates everything with high-pitched screams and perfectly inserted screams, like in “Broken Dreams In Isolation” and “Anger Within”, but more often than not he drops the ball and his vocal skills become sort of a nuisance, maybe because he’s a complete lunatic. Like if thinking that vocal guidance is for fucking losers, he overdoes his doses of gnarls and craziness a little bit.
Some diversity can also be noticed here, with actual atmospheric bits making an appearance, more prominently in the instrumentals “Suspended Reanimation” – which actually plays like an intro – and “Shades of Solitude”, for example, but worry not: the brutal violence and the terminal velocity emanate from the entire experience and won’t give you much time to breathe. Even the closer “Among the Depths of Sanity” seems to be a more macabre, denser song in its first two minutes, only to explode into yet another riff-fest filled with fierceness and energy.
‘Feed Me Violence’ feeds you violence, there’s no better way to put it. It smothers you into a hurricane of aggressive moments, cataclysmic drumming and maniac singing, all while giving you some split seconds to grasp some air in between. Tearing tears of joy from that old geezer who always tells you that the 80’s were the best era for metal, Evil Invaders do no wrong in their proposal of paying homage to the Ravens, Razors and Attackers out there. Highly recommended for speed/thrash metal fans who are looking for some honest retro stuff in their daily dose of crunchy, crazy metal.