Evilized

1998 was another year in a sad period for everything related to thrash metal, even if it still managed to witness the release of a pair of incredible Swedish debuts, namely Witchery's Restless & Dead and The Crown's Hell Is Here. Impious were another act from the same country treading a similar path, especially in relation with the latter – after all, their bassist would later be Marcus Sunesson's replacement, and also Johan Lindstrand had a short tenure here as a drummer(!). Evilized marked their first LP as well, and hopefully it had absorbed some quality from its brilliant neighbours. Who knows?

To be fair, there's probably a reason why The Crown is one of the most respected bands in the death/thrash field, while I'm afraid the number of people mourning Impious' apparent demise doesn't reach a triple digit. If you're wondering, yes, the non-stop screaming drenched in pure hatred for religion is still present, and ditto for the overdose of drumming at breakneck speed (Ulf Johansson might not be Janne Saarenpää, but who really is?), so the two bands no doubt share common features. Sadly, every other aspect is just a pale copy of the OG. The lead guitars are the most evident flaw as, exception made for the closer 'Evilization', which manages to nail a honestly good tapping transition, and the long solo in 'Inside' that cancels the butchered melodic line at 1:50, they are usually unimpressive, and songs like 'The Failed Paradise' and 'Extreme Pestilence' would have deserved some more skill in that department. The riffs themselves are definitely less interesting (and less audible) too. Also, The Crown have always had a strong anthemic element which is crucial in shaking things up, while here the only attempt at such is made in 'Anthem for the Afflicted'. Solid, but 'Drugged Unholy', this is not.

But hey, maybe I'm going slightly off topic, and almost forgot that, well, Impious aren't The Crown, right? Well, luckily some episodes manage to stand strong on their own. The first part of Evilized isn't half bad overall, save for an initial couple of not particularly outstanding songs, and the constant death-infused bludgeoning never fails to get some adrenaline pumping. 'Painted Soul' even goes as far as to display a more than vague black metal influence, which makes it the absolute highlight of the record. However, be prepared to the fact that, for some reason, spoken word parts are embedded in a good chunk of the tracks, and really make the experience feel even more dated than it really is. I would naively think that it was an inevitable feature in '98, but thinking back to the two albums I mentioned at the beginning, I'd conclude that the band wasn't exactly coerced into inserting them...

I can't say for sure how impressive Evilized might have been back then, but certainly nowadays, with 10+ The Crown albums and many others following the same route (e.g. Carnal Forge) it's hardly intriguing. Still, some bangers make it absolutely not worthless, when you're in the mood for blasphemous, high-octane death/thrash from the darker days.

-review written for the 10th Diamhea Memorial Review Challenge – may you rest in peace, Chris.