Evilution

Now if this isn’t an interesting collaboration: former and current members of the King Diamond and Mercyful Fate teams, namely the bass player Sharlee D'Angelo, the drum guru Snowy Shaw, and the guitar maestro Andy LaRocque, join forces to produce a tribute to the modern 90’s power/thrash vogues. As the King himself wasn’t available at the time, working hard on both fronts (“Voodoo” and “Dead Again”), they recruit the complete unknown Jonas Dahlstrom to take over the vocal duties, a talented tenor from the Rob Halford school, previously heard on the Judas Priest tribute outfit Desert Plains.

Yeah, the guys were by no means intent on treading the same operatic, theatrical path as the one of their former/current employer; they have chosen the one of another metal god, Rob Halford that is, and have found their inspiration in the debut opus of his 90’s project Fight “War of Words”. The album reviewed here is quite comparable to the latter, laid out in a very similar heavy mid-tempo fashion, think “Immortal Sin” and “Contortion” from the Fight outing, with Dahlstrom providing the effective clean attached vocals without hitting the higher registers too often, coming close to Halford’s more subdued, more introspective performance on “A Small Deadly Space”.

The seismic veneer of the album, once established by the opening abrasive steam-roller “Singh Hai, is seldom broken sometimes updated to more ambitious, nearly progressive arrangements (“Il Organizatione”), sometimes served with a rowdier, quasi-industrial edge ala Skrew (“V for Vulgarians”). The most interesting moments are arguably placed in the middle where the excellent atmospheric ballad “Eternal Sleep” is surrounded by the contrasting headbanging delights “Six Sec Sex” and “K.A.O.S.”; said ballad is a really cool piece of art recalling “In a World of My Own Making” from “A Small Deadly Space” again, the only genuinely quiet composition here if we also exclude the intriguing doomy creeper “Bid Farewell to Welfare”, with “365 Reasons to Commit Suicide” stirring the spirits in a major way with aggressive dramatic riffs, a modern belligerent thrasher that would have made quite a few of the 80’s practitioners proud.

The times were still right for odes to the modern 90’s trends, but what makes this opus such an oddity is that it came out of the hands of a bunch of musicians who were not expected to sell their souls to the gods of groove so “cheaply”… kidding here of course, there’s nothing cheap about this effort, it’s a job really well done everyone although I have to admit that Larocque’s dazzling, virtuoso leads sound pretty exotic at times on the abrasive, sterile background, his staple penchant for musicality not such a necessary ingredient. And, this album appeared quite timely, I should say, as Halford had already started working on the ill-fated Two collaboration with Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails), leaving all his predilections for fighting and other mischiefs behind. Something had to remind him of where his real passion lied… something evil, something royal, something mechanically belligerent.

This album has caught a lot of flak - too many people seem to hate it with a vengeance, and at most, they grudgingly mumble something along the lines of "Andy LaRoque's solos are the only thing saving this album". Yes, it doesn't sound anything like King Diamond or Mercyful Fate; yes, it sounds like a '90s album, what with the abundant stacatto riffing and "groove"-based rhythms. But Panterrible this is not - it doesn't follow the cheesy and tired formula of "modern" metal, doesn't take itself too seriously, and features versatile and talented musicians (how can any album with Andy LaRoque on guitars and Snowy Shaw on drums be anything less than good?) who manage to inject it with enough varied influences and quirky little good ideas to make it a rewarding listen.

As stated by the musicians, this album was inspired by Fight's 'War of Words', and that's what it sounds like, more or less - "modern" metal which proudly wears on its sleeve enough influence from the classic and the traditional variants, although the songwriting is ultimately better than that of 'War of Words', the musical stylings cover a wider range, and the lyrics don't take themselves as seriously, following a humorously pissed-off/antisocial/conspiracy/sexist bent.

The vocalist does an admirable job covering the range of material - menacing low chants, angry hardcore-like snarls, and the high-pitched squeals of a stuck pig, mimicking Halford and even Udo. Snowy's drum performance is impeccable, as always, and Andy's melodic, intricate lead playing is in top form. One track sounds like Meshuggah on acid with Udo on vocals; another throws in some Slayeresque rage, complete with a subtle fag-goth parody in the pre-chorus and a deliberately over-the-top orchestrated squealing chorus; and another one is a stirring, dark Judas Priest-like ballad. Mockingly and humorously raging, this isn't a remarkable piece of art, but on the other hand, it would be a nice soundtrack if you'd want to bring the phenomenon of Carmageddon into real life, for example.