The guys in this band have been around for almost 20 years having existed previously as Fuoco Fatuo (but not the death metal band of the same name I should add) prior to changing their name to Eversin. Eversin has categorised their music as a post thrash and for the life of me I cannot understand why bands find the need to put themselves into meaningless genre classifications especially when the music Eversin purveys is purely centred on groove metal with only brief hints of thrash brushing the songs.
After a fairly predictable intro the album hits off with “Legions” and a gnarly dense riff eschews and initially one would think the release has deathly tenets especially with the dense production. The multiple vocal styles add plenty of theatrics to the songs as the opener has a mechanized poise with a purposeful beat that continues into “Jornada Del Muerto” where the tempo picks up and a stop-start riff hammers in. The vocals adopt a shout tone creating an industrial persona as the drums pummel through the track rhythmically and have a pulsing reverberating style as I kept thinking about a band called Face Down from Sweden and their second album called “The Twisted Rule The Wicked” from 1997 which has a similar style and tone which the band may or may not agree with.
Ralph Santolla (R.I.P.) guests on “Soulgrinder” which has a pervasive riff initially and the abrupt switch in riff is excellent and extremely catchy as the song builds up steadily to a finale lead work which can only be Mr. Santolla. “Where Angels Die” is thunderously dense as the guitar grates before relenting for a serene hook and whispered vocal piece. The song is about contrasts as that grating riff returns and alternates with cleaner vocal components to good effect. Parts of this album had some excellent riffs as on “Seven Heads” but at times I found the songs languishing in mediocrity and not really going anywhere even though each is well written as the title track has another guest, Lee Wollenschlaeger (Malevolent Creation), making an appearance with some fret work. The epic closer “To The Gates Of The Abyss” should have been immense and does start well with an emotive opening sequence, building on nicely played guitar melodies that switch to an abrasive slow guitar riff that again is very catchy but failed to maintain my attention span.
This isn’t a poor album by any means, it is a competent metal album, possessing decent riffs within songs that have been well written but it is not a thrash album and I don’t care what the band says and to promote it as such is not correct and I’d say most of it is closer to death metal than thrash. One thing I do like however is the guitar sound, it is tremendously gritty, abrasive and rugged.
(7/10 Martin Harris)
http://www.facebook.com/eversinmetal
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