Butchered and maimed! Enter the grave!
—Title Track, Enter the Grave
Evile is a British Thrash Metal band credited with kick-starting the second wave of thrash metal alongside Municipal Waste. They recorded their first album, Enter the Grave, in 2007 with Flemming Rasmussen, the Record Producer who produced Metallica's second, third and fourth albums. With a well-received first album and a song released on Rock Band, they hit a surge of popularity and released a more progressive second album, Infected Nations, in 2009. Tragedy struck when bassist Mike Alexander died on tour, leaving a girlfriend and kids alone. They've continued touring with a new bassist, and released a third album, Five Serpent's Teeth, in 2011.
Their fourth album Skull dropped in late May of 2013. In August, Ol Drake left the band and the band moved on with a replacement, Piers Donno-Fuller. After a few years of relative inactivity, Ol rejoined the band in the spring of 2018. Matt quietly left at some point in 2020, and Ol took his spot on vocals and welcomed in Adam Smith as the new rhythm guitarist. The band released their long-awaited fifth album Hell Unleashed in April 2021.
Current members:
- Lead guitar and vocals: Ol Drake (2004-2013, 2018-present, 2020-present as a vocalist)
- Rhythm guitar: Adam Smith (2020-present)
- Bass: Joel Graham (2009-present)
- Drums: Ben Carter (2004-present)
Past members:
- Vocals and rhythm guitar: Matt Drake (2004-2020)
- Lead guitar: Piers Donno-Fuller (2014-2018)
- Bass: Mike Alexander (2004-2009)
Discography:
- Enter the Grave (2007)
- Infected Nations (2009)
- Five Serpent's Teeth (2011)
- Skull (2013)
- Hell Unleashed (2021)
- The Unknown (2023)
Evile presents examples of the following tropes:
- Answer Song: "Five Serpent's Teeth" is this to "Now Demolition", both making reference to The Demolished Man.
- Berserk Button: The general consensus for the fans of Evile is that they DO NOT like it when the band is being compared to either Metallica or Slayer. With that being said, it's an aversion with the band, more specifically with Matt Drake: they don't mind being compared to Metallica or Slayer, they're proud people make the comparison.
- Blood Bath: "Bathe in Blood", natch. More specifically, the song is referring to Elizabeth Bathory's baths in blood in order to restore youth and the vanity such an act entails.
- Common Music Video Concepts: The garage rock version of the trope for "Thrasher"
- Continuity Nod:
- There is a riff played halfway into "Long Live New Flesh" that actually comes from "Russian Roulette", which appears in Hell Demo (2006).
- Downplayed with the bass intro to "In Memoriam"; it was used during sound check by Mike Alexander.
- Cover Version:
- "Cemetery Gates" (see Irony), "Through the Never" and "Lounge Act" for multiple Kerrang! Tribute Albums.
- "Drowned" for Terrorizer Magazine.
- Guitarist Ol Drake has even done heavy metal renditions of Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" and "The Edge of Glory".
- "Zombie Apocalypse" by brutal death metal/grindcore band Mortician on Hell Unleashed.
- Darker and Edgier: Hell Unleashed wears heavy death metal influences on its sleeve, with darker and more overtly horror-based lyrics, faster and more brutal instrumentation, and Ol Drake's vocal approach sounding a lot more like 90's era Chuck Billy than Matt Drake's more James Hetfield-like approach.
- Dual-Meaning Chorus: "In Memoriam" but it's more of a dual meaning song; justified that half of the band says that it was written in memory of Mike Alexander, the other half say its more a song about missing your loved ones.
- Epic Rocking.
- "We Who Are About to Die", "Metamorphosis", "Genocide" are all over 7:40.
- "Hundred Wrathful Deities" runs at a staggering 11:41.
- "Tomb" is 07:26.
- There is an extended version of "New Truths, Old Lies" in the Amazon edition of Skull running at 7:21.
- Fade Out: "Hundred Wrathful Deities", "Cult", and "New Truths Old Lies".
- Fading into the Next Song: "Metamorphosis" into "Hundred Wrathful Deities".
- Genre Relaunch: They had a large hand in the resurgence of Thrash Metal in the mid 00's, though they were by no means alone.
- Genre Shift: "What You Become" is a straight Groove Metal song.
- Irony: The last song Evile recorded before Mike Alexander died? A cover of "Cemetery Gates".
- Gladiator Games: "We Who Are About to Die" and "Centurion".
- Gorn: "Enter the Grave".
- Harsh Vocals: Primarily Enter the Grave and Hell Unleashed.
- Heavy Meta: "Thrasher".
- Kneel Before Zod: In the chorus of "Thrasher".
- Man on Fire: "Burned Alive".
- Metal Scream: "Origin Of Oblivion", "Skull", and "Words of the Dead" as Type 4. "Outsider" as a mix between Types 1 and 4.
- Non-Appearing Title: "Xaraya", "In Memoriam", "Nosophoros", and "Metamorphosis"
- One-Man Army: "First Blood." Justified in that its a song about Rambo.
- The Plague: "Infected Nation".
- Pun-Based Title: Evile is a portmanteau of Evil and Vile.
- Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: "I AM THE OUTSIDER!!"
- Put on a Bus: Joel Graham. Admitted by Matt Drake in an interview, Evile had played a gig with his old band Ninedenine, and Graham himself used to be a drinking buddy with Mike Alexander. Come 2009, when Evile needed a bassist...
- Religion Rant Song: "Cult", Type 2, sung from the perspective of someone recruiting the listener.
- Robot War: "Man Against Machine".
- Sibling Team: Matt Drake and Ol Drake are brothers.
- Singing Voice Dissonance: Usually the case with British vocalists.
- Start My Own: Ol Drake left in 2013 to start a solo shred project.
- Step Up to the Microphone: After Matt left in 2020, Ol took his place as the vocalist.
- Tank Goodness: "Armoured Assault".
- Title-Only Chorus: "Long Live New Flesh", "Now Demolition", "Plague to End All Plagues", "Devoid of Thought", "Burned Alive", and "Bathe in Blood".
- Uncommon Time: Since the second album was more progressive, the songs on Infected Nations do this sometimes. This could also be applied to select songs on Skull.
- Unplugged Version:` An acoustic version of "In Memoriam" is included on the "Cult" single.
