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Evile > Hell Demo > Reviews > Total_Fucking_Necro
Evile - Hell Demo

If This is Hell, I'll See You Down There... - 95%

Total_Fucking_Necro, October 1st, 2006

'Demo'. Anyone hearing that word in conjunction with metal surely has the quintessential image of poorly-recorded, unlistenable noise on a cassette tape.

Not so here; Evile have produced a demo with the clarity and quality of sound that would shame most famous bands. The guitars have a slightly raw edge, reminiscent of 'Extreme Agression' era Kreator, with the drums being spot on in production and timing, the kicks bassy and meaty sounding. As always, the lead guitar stands far out, the solos easily rivalling almost any metal band you can call to mind; rapid-fire and a testimony to Ol's skill. Each note is clearly distinguishable because of the production, leaving a first-time listener in awe at the speed and skill of execution. For me, the lead work really makes Evile stand a cut above the rest.

The vocals on this album feel much more polished than on their E.P.: their vocalist has obviously been putting in plenty of practice as the tone of his singing voice sounds much more even and controlled in this demo than 'All Hallow's Eve'. The vocals are clean without being weak in delivery, definitely adding an extra layer of 'metal' to the mix. I found myself listening to 'Thrasher' on repeat and banging my head to the chants of 'bow down to the thrasher!' because of how much better they sound on this demo.

Musically, this demo is strong, every song a headbanging masterpiece. Each one is packed full of decent thrash riffs, never descending into filler; subsequently, the whole album is one to whack on and listen to all the way through. A couple of tracks that stood out for me in particular were 'Thrasher' and 'We Who are About to Die': the riffs in those two songs caught my attention with their head-nodding catchiness. To my ears, this demo is definitely a step up from their E.P.; it's less raw, more professionally produced, with the riffs being faster and slightly more technical in their execution.

A damn near perfect demo. If this is Hell, fetch me a goat to sacrifice to Satan, 'cause being eternally damned never sounded so good.