Evil Survives is an old-school Heavy Metal act that was established in 2008, forming in Winnipeg, Canada. Over the course of their career, the group has issued an EP, as well as two full-lengths, the latter of the two finally making it's way to the States through Heavy Artillery Records instead of War on Music some many months after it's initial release. With a quick spin of Powerkiller, it's clear that the band takes a lot of inspiration from many of the earlier bands in the scene through the more traditional approach to the style, as well as the various obvious mixed band's styles that are presented on this release that give Powerkiller a somewhat unique sound. But, can this clumping of bands wind up being somewhat of an overkill the album? Definitely not, but the problem of Powerkiller doesn't stem from the obvious worship in the music, but rather the production of the album, and the music itself.
The production of Powerkiller isn't really the greatest, but for the more nostalgic aspect of the band's music, it does the job well, having a slightly more analog sound then a digital one, but still rather clear by today's technological standards. Musically, the band presents a heavy NWOBHM influence in many of the songs, especially in the opening track "Resist the Exorcism" and the following "Creature of Sin". The production of this release, however, does wind up leaving a little to be desired, giving off a somewhat hollow sound to the recording that just doesn't have that strong a bite to it. This isn't to say that the album is bad, as Powerkiller is still a strong release musically. The only problem that seems to come up with the album is the hollow guitar solo moments that occur during some songs, such as on "Creature of Sin", and the fact that some of the solos aren't necessarily all that great in the first place, leaving them sound a little more open then they should. Of course, there are a few here that are great, such as the solo on "Judas Priest Live".
Musically, Evil Survives seems to take a standard approach of traditional Heavy Metal in the vein of Iron Maiden, and mixing it with a vocal approach similar to that of Judas Priest, but utilizing a falsetto style that would be more comparable to a King Diamond approach, especially during the third track "Judas Priest Live", which seems a little odd in the long run. Unfortunately, the vocals also sound a little hollow and don't really sound that solid in the final mix. One of the pluses to this release, however, is a severe lack of space between the songs. Sometimes it's beneficial to have a few seconds between the songs to properly seperate them, but given the old-school nature of the recording and the faster pace, having the songs hit at such a quick pace just makes the album flow so much nicer, and often can make the songs feel as if they are just continuing where the last one left off.
As far as the songs go, there's really nothing wrong with them. Powerkiller starts off a bit rocky, but as it continues, the songs become more solid and much stronger. "Die Like a Samurai" is a fantastic song with fast paced guitars, being an overall fantastic effort with great enthusiasm all around. However, if you were to compare this to "Resist the Exorcism", which is a catchy NWOBHM-based track that is much lighter, the energy is just not there. Even the vocals sound really unenthused throughout the whole thing. The problem with that is it gives off a filler track feeling, and for the first track on an album, that's possibly the worst way to start an album, as it gives the illusion that the rest of the album is just going to be horrible music, but it's not. These opening tracks aren't necessarily that bad, but after a few spins they will lose their luster and leave the listener scrambling to "Die Like a Samurai", and all the tracks that follow, especially the very strong, hard hitting, and energetic "Dragonslayer" that shows some complexity in the guitars that the opening songs also greatly lack. All this leads to the grand finale, "The Descent Into Hades", which is a great song that lasts nearly sixteen minutes in length, but the problem here is that there isn't really much substance to the song, which leads to the track sounding a lot like material that was already performed on the previous six tracks, and just expanded, leading to a number of moments during the song that, in the end, just sound repetitive after a while, even in the first time through the track.
For a follow-up album, Powerkiller is not a bad offering. Of course, it could have been better. Whether the somewhat low production quality was meant to appear that way on this CD to capture the proper NWOBHM atmosphere that influenced the music of this album, or not, the production does hold things back a bit with it's lack of bite, and starting off with your weaker music is never traditionally a good thing. Instead of that, why not just dispose of it completely and focus on the other material instead? Either way, there's not that much to fault ' second full-lengh offering, and does wind up being an album that is worth checking out for the talen that this group of individuals have for the old, traditional sampler of he album.
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