Hell Unleashed is the fifth studio album by British thrash metal band Evile, released on 30 April 2021 by Napalm Records. It is the band's first studio album since Skull (2013), making it their longest gap between studio albums to date. It also marks the first album to feature Adam Smith, who replaced original lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Matt Drake, and the first to feature lead guitarist Ol Drake on vocal duties.[Metal Forces. (2021) 'EVILE Issue Behind-The-Scenes Footage From Making Of 'Hell Unleashed' Music Video', Metal Forces, 15 February 2021. Accessed: 6 March 2021.]
Background
In 2013,
Ol Drake left Evile and released his debut solo album,
Old Rake, in 2015, before subsequently re-joining in 2018.
[Hobson, R. (2020) 'Evile: the kings of UK thrash come back from the dead', Metal Hammer, 4 December. Accessed: 6 March 2021.][BraveWords. (2021) 'Evile Return with Hell Unleashed Album; Title Track Music Video Streaming', Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles, 3 February. Accessed: 6 March 2021.] The band announced Matt Drake's departure in August 2020, the latter citing family commitments and recurring health setbacks as reasons for leaving.
[Stojanovic, A. (2020) 'Matt Drake Posts Statement Regarding Departure from Evile', www.metalmasterkingdom.com, 14 August. Accessed: 6 March 2021.] Ol replaced Matt on vocal duties, whilst Adam Smith, guitarist and vocalist of RipTide, joined as the new rhythm guitarist. Wanting to keep familiar faces in the band, Ol said taking on vocal duties "made sense" to him. He cited
Chuck Schuldiner of Death as "one of his heroes". In December 2020, Evile announced the recording of a new studio album; the first in seven years.
Writing
Ol describes Evile's writing style as "more aggressive" in comparison to Evile's previous outings, citing
Sepultura and the
death metal genre as influences. The band had not written any new material since 2013, which Ol described as "old" and not the approach the band "wanted to go for this time around". In part, the latter is why they chose to collaborate with Chris Clancy instead of long-term Evile producer
Russ Russell.
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Reception
The title track is the first single,[MetalSucks. 'Evile Return With New Album and Single', MetalSucks, 3 February 2021. Accessed: 3 March 2021] unveiled on 3 February 2021 alongside the official music video, directed by James Mansell.[ The follow-up to this was the second single and video for "Gore", also directed by James Mansell.][DIstorted Sound. "Evile release new music video for 'Gore, Distorted Sound, 18 March 2021. Accessed: 10 May 2021] The third and final single/video was for the song "The Thing (1982)".[MetalSucks. 'Evile Get Retro with "The Thing (1982)"', MetalSucks, 27 April 2021. Accessed: 10 May 2021] The album was released on 30 April 2021 via Napalm Records.[
]
Track listing
The track listing was unveiled in February 2021[Blabbermouth. (2021) 'EVILE To Release New Album 'Hell Unleashed' In April', Blabbermouth.net, 3 February. Accessed: 6 March 2021.].
Personnel
Band members
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Ol Drake – lead vocals, lead guitar
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Ben Carter – drums
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Joel Graham – bass
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Adam Smith – rhythm guitar
Additional
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Michael Whelan – cover artwork
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Gustave Doré – CD/vinyl booklet images
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Brian Posehn – backing vocals
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Chris Clancy – producer
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Ol Drake – co-producer
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Maria de Lacruz Balcells – booklet sketches
Charts
Notes
