Evil United is the newest metal incarnation to come out of Texas. Fronted by the legendary Jason McMaster, twin guitars of TC Connally and John Valenzuela, with bass riffs provided by Dan Van Stavern. Jason West on the skins rounds out this newest metal lineup. Texas has two really distinct sounds in their metal catalog, extreme hard core death metal like Job for A Cowboy and an interesting southern rock turned metal sound from bands like Texas Hippie Coalition. Where does this freshman release fall on this scale and what can the unsuspecting public expect from Evil United?

Pure metal is what we get from Evil United. The first thing that catches us is the vocal styling of McMaster. Anyone familiar with his work in Dangerous Toys, Broken Teeth, and various other projects knows he can knock it out of the park vocally every time he steps up to the microphone and that’s exactly what he does this time around as well. On Evil United McMaster sounds like a cross somewhere between King Diamond and Tom Araya, all mixed in on thirteen tracks of the their self-titled release. McMaster’s range is wide, intense, full of raw emotion. The lyrical content could certainly qualify Evil United to the death metal genre but their music doesn’t necessarily give listeners that familiar death metal feel. The rhythm section of West and Van Stavern provide near perfect bass lines and a mix of double bass and blast beats that should be the envy of any band but is rather atypical of traditional death metal sound. McMaster and the backbone carry the metal fervor through each and every note of this album. This leaves Connally and Valenzuela the ability to provide a twin guitar attack of such a variation that it leaves us in near amazement. Dueling guitars in riffs and solos is such an amazing addition for bands. These two axe masters are certainly following in the footsteps of the greats before them. Their dueling solo’s would make Tipton and Downing proud.

Walking to Sodom is the best example of the intersection of rhythm, riffs, and solos combining to an actual feeling of walking. Adding in McMaster’s intonations to capture the mood of Sodom and the listener is left with feelings of actually heading off to Sodom. Contrast this Spoonfed, which most would agree, is a more traditional metal track. Riffs, chorus, solo patterns reminiscent of good 80’s metal. Even at laying a more traditional metal sound does not mean in any way that McMaster and company are anything but ordinary. The solo’s provided on this track are pure genius. The twin neck work of C and V gives testament to their versatility on this release.

Evil United has certainly dropped a metal bomb on the unsuspecting public. This is another proclamation to what is fast becoming a metal tradition in the lone star state. When we hear a metal band is out of Texas we need to sit up and take notice. Evil United provides such an adaptability of tracks on their release one can only listen in wonder. They are here to stay and the metal world is a better place for it. These Texas boys will not be disappointed but rather surprise at the depth of professionalism in the presentation of their music. All in all this is a must buy and must listen release, and here’s hoping they stop in Chicago because their live show has to be killer.

Track Listing:

Blasphemer 3:24
Dawn of Armageddon 5:37
Speak 4:04
Rise and Fall of Earth and Man 3:16
Wargod 3:50
Dark Serenade 1:35
Fifty-Year Storm 3:36
Spoonfed 4:38
Lost Dream 1:19
Taking Over the Grandmaster 2:53
Walking to Sodom 5:42
Hexorcism 3:44
Massacre 2:54

[pro-player width='530' height='253' type='video']http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYGXvZfD2tw[/pro-player]

Until Next Time Keep It Metal
Myron S-
(Hit me up on twitter: @maschem67 or send me an email at myronschmidt@hardrocknights.com

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,