Speed Alcoholic Evil

If you want to convince people you're evil, call yourselves Demonslaught 666, name your debut EP Speed Alcoholic Evil, and play raw black/speed/thrash that is so fast it sounds both tight and sloppy at the same time. I'm kidding obviously, but the said EP pretty much sticks to the stereotypes while also showing that the duo from China knew roughly what they wanted to sound like from the start. Quite a lot has improved in the 3 years since, not least the solos of Mr Evilslaughter, which here play second fiddle to his very competent riffs and occasionally become a little uncomfortable to listen to, the one during the title track especially. All the same, the self-penned songs hold their own with the Barbatos and Hellripper covers, so that's something.

Simplicity is very much order of the day for the 5 songs here, rattling through them in just 13 minutes and change. Not much really alters as the tracks progress, only minor rhythmic shifts occurring between sections, while downtime is practically non-existent. Essentially, all the instruments are screaming all the time, and that includes the vocals as MørkkaldeidcM (not sure how to pronounce that) literally just shrieks at the end of 'Demoniac Spells' as if not convinced by the shrillness of the rest of his efforts. As a result of this extreme one-dimensional thinking - even for black/speed/thrash this is minimal - I don't find too much joy in the release as a whole, with only the Barbatos cover really resulting in any new concept, which here means turning the bass up and playing a little slower. Pretty sure I know where my headache started today.