Evile, Warbringer and The Fading at Glasgow Cathouse (17/01/10)

October of last year saw the tragic, untimely demise of Evile bassist Mike Alexander. For such a young band said to be ‘carrying [thrash metal]’s revival on their shoulders’, it really was a shock to the community, and for a short time their future as a group was in doubt. Thankfully, fortune smiled upon them with the arrival of new bassist Joel Graham, and a UK tour to further promote new full-length ‘Infected Nations’ (and its Maidenesque cover art) and keep the metal flag flying high.

Israel’s The Fading do their best to work up tonight’s (notably young) crowd, with some textbook stage banter and melodeath frettery. The venue is more empty than half-full, and polite applause and a small, brief moshpit is just about the only response from the crowd, apart from the usual support band-piss-taking jeers from the lads at the bar. Compared to them, Calfornia’s Warbringer are the bomb. Some tasty Exodus-y noise is battered out by the fivesome, who have the long-haired, beer-drinking, pot-smoking, cop-bothering thrash image down to a tee; the kind of American headbangers you see in the likes of Wayne’s World or Bill & Ted. Vocalist John Kevill has something of an early Mike Patton about him, throwing shapes and pulling mad faces as ‘Living In A Whirlwind’ becomes a reality; the first of many circle pits has begun.

Then comes Evile. Choosing to open their set with a sombre speech about the erstwhile bass player does little to mar the atmosphere, and audience chants of ‘Mike! Mike! Mike’ retain the good vibes. The title track of the new album kicks off the set, with vocalist Matt Drake adopting a Hetfieldian wail, a world away from his newfound throaty bellow on record. Whether this is on purpose or is what he really sounds like without studio mastering is debatable, but either way, there’s not much bad to be said.

Last year’s release showed a bit of an evolution for the Huddersfield quartet; debut ‘Enter The Grave’ was very good indeed, but arguably generic in terms of the genre. ‘Infected Nations’ is more diverse, with the aforementioned vocal flirting and notable eleven-minute instrumental ‘Hundred Wrathful Deities’. There’s an offering of new and old tonight, but each one setting off vicious pits and banging heads, and towards the end of the night there’s even stage-diving (’It’s fun watching other people get hurt’ smirks the older Drake brother): ‘Thrasher’ is bloody dangerous; ‘Killer From The Deep’ is announced as a set staple from now on, in homage to Mike; ‘Enter The Grave’ closes the night with a WHOOAAARRRGGGHHHH.

An encore isn’t happening tonight, as amusingly, Graham hasn’t had time to learn all of their songs yet. But after such commitment and dedication to metal, even through the darkest of times, there was little chance that this evening could be anything less than a success, and a triumphant return of a British band we should all be very, very proud of.

Article by Andy McDonald