Evildead: Discography (1989 - 2020)

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Evildead: Discography (1989 - 2020)

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L.A.-based Evildead was the thrash metal band founded by former Agent Steel guitarist Juan Garcia, following that group's apparent breakup in 1987. Alongside vocalist Phil Flores, guitarist Albert Gonzalez, bassist Mel Sanchez (previously his bandmate with Abattoir), and drummer Rob Alaniz, he signed with Germany's Steamhammer label, and by the close of 1989 they had released both an EP (entitled Rise Above) and a full album (optimistically named Annihilation of Civilization) of particularly brutal thrash metal.

Not too many consumers took notice, however, so after taking stock of their prospects, Flores and Garcia retooled Evildead's lineup with new members Dan Flores (guitar), Karlos Medina (bass, and another Agent Steel alum), and drummer Doug Clawson prior to recording 1991's The Underworld. Unfortunately, it too failed to impress the marketplace – despite flirting with the day's more current death metal style – and, after delivering a final live album with the following year's From the Depths of the Underworld, Evildead quietly shut down shop.

by Eduardo Rivadavia, AMG

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Evildead: Discography (1989 - 2020)

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By the late-80’s, thrash became refined, advanced and varied, subgenres of the subgenre itself appeared, from power thrash to progressive while very few kept the original essence of the early days in their music. Even the extreme Teutonic acts embraced much more accessible sounds, moving away from their initial schemes because they had to evolve inevitably to prevail among the rest. During those times of diversity for thrash, Evildead put out their debut, which combined melody and violence in almost equal percentages. The enormous pile of generic groups demanded making a difference from the rest and these guys did it in their own way, although the uncertainty of those days eventually condemned them to languish in obscurity.

The album features pretty direct thrash tunes of total aggression, “Unauthorized Exploitation” and “F.C.I./The Awakening” in particular are plenty of power and speed, with that rapid tempo and those sharp riffs attacking so intense. However, they’re not the topical raging thrash intended to be only heavy and rough because Evildead’s performance and song-writing preceding process show some sophistication and grace. The music is violent but at the same time slightly melodic on some sequences, immaculately played and exact, proving the experience and skills of veteran Juan García and Albert Gonzales specially, whose lines lead and determined the tunes. Some of those rabid riffs are quite intricate, not excessively difficult but they make a difference from other band’s lack of precision and exhausting palm mute riffing. So they alternate sonic violence with tenuous technique on those, while “Living Good” and the title-track increase the complexity of structures, introducing distinct riff series, lengthier instrumental passages and much more melody, which becomes a characteristic element of this material. On other hand, it seems the band is trying to not play it that technical and remain accessible and casual, far from the ambitious patterns Juan developed on his Agent Steel years. That resolution becomes evident on “B.O.H.I.C.A.”, the most scruffy chaotic number of the pack, which sounds like uncontrolled hardcore combined with humoristic lyrics. But there’s another exception of opposite nature here: “Holy Trials” is the most progressive composition, tender with some constant acoustic guitar arrangements that make it sound sentimental at times, along with much more meticulous riffs and alternative structures. Apart from those 2, the rest offer no difference: “Parricide” includes a killer intro with both guitarists having a friendly duel of weighty riffing, then it follows the usual band patterns of energetic rhythms and diverse riffs, while “Gone Shooting” puts bigger emphasis on vocals.

Those who expected some trace of previous Juan García projects’ sound here will be disappointed, because this was never intended to be a sequel of Agent Steel or Abattoir. The band preferred to make it simpler, straighter without an excessive presence of melody and instrumental complexity. The lack of pretention is clear on some of these numbers, which are focused on the basic characteristics of thrash, making them limited and predictable sometimes. Although Evildead can’t deny their natural predilection for difficulty and melody, both inevitably present during the album, providing their music of excellence and class which most of their peers lacked. Luckily, melody isn’t a tiring element here like it became on post-80’s Artillery and Whiplash, but it’s obvious this material is far from extreme. Phil Flores’ voice contributes tremendously to make this stuff so polite and slightly commercial. His lyrics are incessant and omnipresent, his choruses repetitive and his tone particularly sweet. It’s one of those singers who could’ve sung for a hard rock group instead perfectly, whose presence lacks strength and attitude but manages to fit the nature of these cuts. His words are about entertaining usual issues of pollution, toxic waste and environmental apocalypse, though also combined with mysticism and evil inherited from excessive hours in front of TV watching horror movies. The group name makes it clear and in fact, this mixture of urban thrash identity and horror stuff wasn’t that common, probably just Rigor Mortis introduced some cinema inspiration in their imagery. It’s not only about zombies and witchcraft, expressions like “girl beware of my probing anal tongue dart, I'll kiss your bush, and spread your cheeks apart” on the final composition prove lust and sarcasm are also part of their policy.

It’s a very competent record, surprisingly refreshing and aggressive, admirably executed and well-produced. It could’ve got further for sure, maybe the presence of thousands of other common thrash albums around relegated it to discreet success and I’m not talking about selling CDs. In contrast with most of inoffensive subgenre work of that period, Evildead still included velocity, brutality (in small portion) and some obscure lyrics in their music, showing some nostalgia for the good old times. Sadly, like what happened with many other promising bands, this enjoyable material came in the wrong time, shortly afterwards thrash was no longer popular.

Metal_Thrasher90, metal-archives.com

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Evildead: Discography (1989 - 2020)

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There is a sad reality about many lesser know thrash metal acts, which could be labeled as the two album rule. With rare exception (and usually the exception is only one album being released), these bands either crashed and burned after putting out 2 superior LP releases, or otherwise broke up after hitting musical pay dirt for the 2nd time. Evildead, formed in the aftermath of Juan Garcia's 2 album stint with Agent Steel, takes after the latter category, though their impact on the thrash metal scene was minimal when compared with the actual quality of their output. It's not an entirely unexpected eventuality when one's competition consists of similarly technical outfits like Forbidden and the lesser know Defiance, newly formed pinnacles of aggression in Demolition Hammer and Exhorder, not to mention the continual onslaught of the Bay Area via Exodus and Testament. In many respects, Evildead embodied most of the positive aspects of all these projects during their brief time in the spotlight, but things were definitely changing by 1991.

For all the similar imagery of greed and corporate abuse that adorns "The Underworld" when compared to the content of its predecessor, this is a fairly different album than "Annihilation Of Civilization". It starts off in a similar fashion with another sample from the "Evil Dead" films, though this time mixed in with a lot of guitar and synthesizer noise, and it does travel to almost the exact same places lyrically, but it comes off as much more conventional, at least insofar as the genre's direction was concerned in the early 90s. There's nothing on this album that comes close to rivaling the unfettered speed and fury of "The Awakening" or "Unauthorized Exploitation", nor are the technical and progressive quirks that occasionally popped up in the debut nearly as prevalent. This isn't to say that the album is a bland affair in over-repetition or an outright nod to "…And Justice For All", but it definitely listens closer to the upper mid-tempo character of the latter days of the style, having a bit more in common with "Impact Is Imminent" and "Victims Of Deception".

There is a greater concentration on punch and heaviness on here, not all that dissimilar to the super-Metallica crunch character of Demolition Hammer's debut. It's not quite as fast as said album, but when hearing the pounding chug of the riff work on "Welcome To Kuwait" and "The Hood", it's pretty easy to heard that the rhythm guitars have been given a good bit more stomp to them, probably in part due to input from vocalist Phil Flores' brother Dan coming in to take over for Albert Gonzales. The familiar harmonized leads and wild soloing are still present, but tempered and a bit more methodical, almost as if Juan Garcia is limiting himself to 2 or 3 wenches rather than trying to nail the whole harem. The name of the game here is definitely mid-tempo grooving mixed with fast but not quite frenetic thrashing, and the aggressive ode to douche bag music journalists "Critic/Cynic" and the more elaborate riff machine with extremely awkward politically preachy lyrics of an opener "Global Warming" exhibit a multifaceted yet soldier-like mode of precision that is engaging, but falls just shy of extravagance.

But for this album's initial consistency as it shifts gears between anti-war and environmental politics to odes of gangland violence with a precursor to Beavis and Butthead named Roscoe ("The Hood"), it actually tapers off a bit towards the end. They do manage to nail the "He's A Woman, She's A Man" cover, with Phil showcasing his ability to hit screech territory with about the same level of competence as Chuck Billy back during the mid 80s, but after that things aren't quite as memorable. "Process Elimination" listens like a thrash/speed hybrid that pays homage to early 80s Judas Priest while retaining the super-heavy guitar tone, but it doesn't quite hit as hard as the 7 songs before it and tends to come and go too quickly. "Labyrinth Of The Mind" finds itself stumbling into Pantera styled grooving and, while far from terrible, sticks out like a sore thumb whenever it drops the tempo, and likewise is a bit jarring when it picks things up. Things then proceed to close out on a somewhat convoluted note on "Reap What You Sow", seemingly taking some cues from the Metallica/Megadeth approach to semi-ballad based thrashing, but takes its time getting going and then sort of wanders around a series of impressive riffs before closing off.

It's a sad thing that when the bottom fell out of the thrash scene in 1993, Evildead was one of the many casualties of the stranglehold that the RIAA still had over the entire musical world. It's a bit of a consolation that they managed to sneak in 2 LPs and a solid live album before eventually losing label support, thus opting to change their name to Terror and reverting back to Sci-Fi/Conspiratorial lyrical subjects in line with Garcia's Agent Steel days while still trying to maintain this band's style. Apparently when the thrash revival really started to heat up in the latter half of the first decade of the 2000s, this band gave it another go but apparently couldn't quite capitalized on the renewed interest in both classic Bay Area thrash and the crossover sound that Evildead dabbled in. But despite their not being a comeback LP to mark the occasion, this album and the one that came before it are highly recommended to any present partakes of the genre, particularly those liking it technical and heavy.

hells_unicorn, metal-archives.com

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Evildead: Discography (1989 - 2020)

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Live ….From The Depths of The Underworld is the third Steamhammer Records release from the Los Angeles, California based thrash metal band Evildead. The album was recorded live in Munich, Germany, in June 1992 on the Crime's a Way of Life Tour. The album contains live versions of select songs from the band's two previous studio albums, Annihilation of Civilization and The Underworld. The line-up for this album was Juan Garcia, Karlos Medina, Phil Flores, Dan Flores, and Eddie Livingston. This was the band's last release for Steamhammer before their official break-up in 1996.

~ wiki

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Evildead: Discography (1989 - 2020)

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Evildead was formed in 1987 with the intention to create heavy music in the thrash metal vein. Their sound was unique; highlighting a blend of speed and thrash metal guitar riffs along with hyper drumming locked in with an over the top thundering bass with punk overtones, and lyrical themes that explored political, thought provoking social ideas; mixed with horror, and nuclear war themes. After disbanding in the 1990’s, the California thrashers returned a little over 10 years ago after a demand was seen giving the band a second lease on life.

2020 finally sees a brand new album in the form of “United States Of Anarchy”, a fitting title for the world and particularly their home country are living through. Their usual tongue in cheek humor splattered with a comical sense of sarcasm and political satire continues here, sitting among a backdrop of musical theatre in the form of some good old fashioned thrash metal.

There’s not going to be anything revolutionary found here on Evildead’s return to album recordings but that doesn’t matter because it’s still fun to listen to. It’s rough and tumble type stuff but the band do it well. It’s as raw as anything they have previously done and in keeping with tradition, their now infamous album covers which have previously been done by the legendary Ed Repka returns to give us another fantastic piece of artwork, something which lacks a little in today’s album art at times.

Opening track “The Descending” is classic thrash metal and opens the door to Evildead in 2020 with it’s catchy hooks and point driven metal. Vocalist Phil Flores spits out vocal lines in his well known signature snarl, his use of political vitriol done in comical fashion. “Word Of God” steps it up a notch going down a more death thrash sound to give it a bit of extra muscle in the aggression department, it’s Evildead in modern times.

Of course the old school sound is much intact through out as seen in “Napoleon Complex“, rollicking riffs driving it’s main groove element. “Greenhouse” is a fun one to listen to with it’s chock full of guitar parts and yet another slab of groove thrown in once again.

“No Difference” throws a curveball into the mix at the beginning with an interesting jazz intro before launching into a frenzied attack. “Blasphemy Divine” steps on the gas pedal a little extra harder as the fast pace increases the intensity of the song, reminding us once again why we loved Evildead in the first place.

The final track “Seed Of Doubt” gives us a little extra meat and potatoes with it’s full bodied musical prowess, complete with melodic passages and wonderful guitar harmonies. Oh this is Evildead in a nutshell, many years may have gone by since we last heard of their brand of gutteral thrash but it’s good to have the lads back again and it still sounds as good as it ever did.

~ therockpit.net