The Evil in Good

Thanks to the magic of reissues, China’s Awakening Records has awakened me to a somewhat short lived band from the ‘80s that seems to have gotten a bit swept under the radar. With only two full-lengths, Washington state’s Mace dropped by and delivered a dirty dose of crossover wreckage. The latter of the two albums, The Evil In Good truly captures the angry punk energy under the thrash umbrella arguably harder than some of their bigger peers at the time. Of course, by 1987, this style wasn’t exactly unheard of either.

Obviously, you shouldn’t go into this expecting a vast variety from the gate. Lyrically, it’s definitely loaded with political angst and history’s most hatred filled figures, and the tone and attitude matches wonderfully. Yet, there’s still a solid poetic flow that combats the raw atmosphere cast above everything. Slower passages that cool the aggressive energy make their way in, even adding acoustics in the longer title track. There’s also an impressive jump to something like that in “Thinning The Herd,” which I applaud.

Admittedly though, this does go a little heavy on some of the sillier aspects of the genre, which may have made it less favorable to others. Inconsistency isn’t an issue, since the general feel doesn’t change across the board, but “Daddy’s Girl” certainly could have been avoided, especially being back to back with the awkward cover of Edwin Starr’s “War”. Nothing worth complaining about too much, especially because a lot of this is made up with incredible bass presence, nearly as loud as the lead guitars. The drums even have a pretty fun feeling to them.

While The Evil In Good may be a bit messy, I find it to be an interesting disc. It certainly was worth several spins, and it left a lot to be dissected for a genre that’s typically quite straightforward. If Municipal Waste could go back in time and make their over-the-top style fifteen years sooner, this is about what you’d end up with. Except maybe tighten things up a bit; it compares more to them than the likes of Suicidal Tendencies or DRI.