Review by Greg on December 26, 2023.

My story with this album is pretty particular. I remember easily that my first 'independent' thrash experience, thus leaving out The Big 4's sporadic appearances on my older brother's stereo, was exactly with this album. To be precise 'We Who Are About to Die' led me into this world, after I found that song attached at the end of another one I downloaded, still not knowing why. I was captivated by the 7+ minutes of the song, full of tempo changes, catchy in the mid-paced sections and overwhelming after the sudden acceleration in between. Note that these things were completely new to me at the time: the young me had never found that spark in Metallica or Slayer before (I remedied it later anyway), that flash of inspiration which attracted him irremediably towards the entrance gates of thrash metal boundaries. I could only grab immediately my mobile and use Shazam to identify the band name, and after some researches I found myself loving also some of the remaining tracks from Enter the Grave and, eventually, from the other two albums too. This was about 5-6 years ago, shortly after Five Serpent's Teeth had been released; this was the beginning of my immense love for the genre.

Before things get boring, let's close the 'personal story' section, though the clarifications were meant to describe why I cannot be completely objective about this album. Well, Evile's name stands out among the countless revivalist fellows because of their take on thrash, heavily influenced by Metallica, yet with a sort of distinctive style, like few other contemporary bands (Vektor, Hexen, Fog of War are all good examples). The features which have made their latest albums successful are melodic vocals by Matt Drake, ambitious song-writing and the like... the peculiarity is that almost nothing of these things is present on here! Yes, for their debut (remember that we are in 2007) Evile opted for a simpler, straight formula, not unlike a modern equivalent to Kill 'Em All, within the limits. It's not even that difficult to find similarities between some songs... 'We Who Are About to Die' itself stands really close to 'The Four Horsemen', except for the central acceleration I noted before. That riff shortly after, then, doesn't it remind you anything? It's a not too hidden homage, to be honest, such as the tempo change in 'Schizophrenia' – great track anyway – draws heavily from 'Welcome Home'.

Surely it isn't enough to accuse the Drake Bros' crew of plagiarism, for sure. Let's not forget that the revival thrash wave was at its birth, opposed by many and probably considered a short-lived attempt to resurrect the gold years of the genre. And the first, highly derivative works to come out seemed to endorse this way of thinking (think of Chemical Assault or Spread the Fire), because they could hit safely and take overt influences from well-known bands, without the pressure of today's obsession for innovation, caused by the proliferation of generic thrash band all over the world. Metallica were (and still are) their major inspiration source and this had been the result. Nevertheless, in spite of the immaturity displayed throughout the 10 songs of Enter the Grave, it's still a convincing album, thanks to its energy and enthusiasm, joined with technical skills well above average; taking a look on Evile's subsequent efforts, probably this is not their best, but it comes really close, albeit being like a foreign body in their discography.

While the other mid-tempos don't excite too much, or don't bring nothing really alluring to the table ('Man Against Machine' and 'Bathe in Blood'), and the remaining tracks in the middle try a bit of everything, with mixed to positive results (the start-stop attack of 'Burned Alive' is quite interesting, to say), the full-throttle assaults launched by the Britons are easily the highlights, mainly for a reason. Albeit the band members were nearly in their thirties, the juvenile approach of the album makes these songs flow way more naturally if compared to the slower tunes, which will (rightly) occupy more and more space in the following years. For now, Evile want to play fast and they deliver us 'Thrasher', 'First Blood' and 'Armoured Assault', the three essential songs of the record. The first one is quick, sheer violence at maximum speed, though also its main riff sounds already heard before. The second one, after a slow introduction, brings slight rhythm variations, yet occasionally bursting into fast attacks. Eventually, the last one is perhaps their fastest track ever (Ben Carter remains one of the most underrated drummers today), and conversely features a load of killer riffs which come straight out of nowhere. A landmark of revival thrash, in my humble opinion. The elder Drake brother does a good job as a vocalist too, at least in these tracks, with his trademark voice, despite the low variety throughout the whole album.

By now, I guess almost everyone has heard of this band and of this album. Haters will continue to avoid it, that's for sure. But if you're not afraid to be judged not true enough, or if you are in the middle of a nostalgic mood and you miss the good, ol' days of thrash metal, Enter the Grave might be a surprise in both cases. Yes, surely it lacks the personality one would expect, but this is one of the cases where I feel it doesn't even need one.

Rating: 7.7 out of 10