Reported by Di Parkes

Masters of Thrash, Evile, alongside the mighty Swedish Heavy Metallers, Wolf at the Corporation in Sheffield, most definitely an unmissable gig for me! Ali Blackdiamond and I therefore caught up with them mid-way through their latest tour. Despite it being a cold, rainy, mid-week (work/school) October night many more obviously thought the same way too as the turnout wasn’t too shabby at all for a Wednesday evening!

First on stage were local band Septic Fatality, but alas I cannot comment on their performance as it clashed with us being backstage interviewing/filming the lovely Wolf guys.

Wolf – Century Media Records

Band members:

Niklas Stalvind: Lead vocals & Guitar
Simon Johansson: Guitars & backing vocals
Anders Modd: Bass Guitar
Richard Holmgren: Drums

To quote Wolf themselves from their Facebook autobiography section “WOLF is a recording and touring band that doesn’t give a shit about the flavour of the day. They play loud and make no excuses”! What you see is most definitely what you get with these four fabulous guys from Sweden; full-on, traditional, retro heavy metal is what these ‘lupine lads’ are about, think Maiden/Priest……keeping the spirit of the 80’s very much alive.

Always greeted with enthusiasm and friendship by these awesome guys, the pre-show interview with Simon, Andy & Richard (Nik was off warming up his voice but still made time to say hi and pose for photo’s) got off to a cracking start when beer was handed out to all present. Always eloquent and open, the content of the interview ranged from the new material they are working on for the next album, touring (especially their obvious excitement for the upcoming ‘Headlining’ visit to India) and even things for the fans to get involved with – alas too top secret to be spoken about just yet! They did however divulge to us their new merchandise product; “Wolf’s Blood Hot Sauce” (Click HERE)….hotter than Tabasco apparently and, according to Andy, “it will make you HOWL” Not for the lily-livered amongst us then, and by that I mean ME!!!

I have had the honour of knowing the Wolf guys for some time now and it has to be said that they always give 110% on stage; with razor-sharp vocals from Nik, awesome guitar riffs from Simon (the newest member of the band but that means NOTHING, it is like he has been there from Day 1) the pounding rhythm section coming from Richard on Drums and Andy on Bass, striding around the stage and shaking his ample locks like a blonde Viking warrior!

With whirling hair, awesome stage presence, memorable lyrics and audience interaction I feel positive that apart from the die-hard fans such as Ali and myself, they also gained many new followers that night; people who were there to see Evile, and quite simply became ‘Wolf’s Prey’ in the process!

Catch Wolf next at:
ProgPower Oslo/Norway – November 10th 2012
Headlining Harley Rock Riders III – Bangalore/India – November 24th 2012

Setlist:
Make Friends with your nightmares
Hail Caesar
Full Moon Possession
Voodoo
Steelwinged Savage Reaper
Skull Crusher
Evil Star
The Bite
K-141 Kursk
Genocide
Venom
Speed On

Links:
www.wolf.nu
https://www.facebook.com/officialwolf/info
www.myspace.com/wolfheavymetal
https://metalshockfinland.wordpress.com/2012/10/26/interview-with-wolf-discussing-new-material-india-illegal-downloads-and-wolfs-blood-it-will-make-you-howl/

Evile – Earache Records

Members:

Matt Drake: Vocals & Guitar
Ol Drake: Guitar
Ben Carter: Drums
Joel Graham: Bass Guitar

The last time I saw Evile live was yet again at the Corporation, in October 2011, on their Five Serpents Teeth tour, which was, despite it being a total sell-out show, due to a Halloween Party booking, was only held in the smaller room/stage at the venue; so to see them finally promoted to the main stage was a metaltastic treat indeed. Alas, due to the Wolf interview and time constraints there was no interview with these guys this time around – although we did bump into, and have a quick chat with, Matt backstage.

Being a huge Metallica and thrash metal fan myself I have great admiration for these four guys, who back in their ‘pre-Evile’ days were called Metal Militia and concentrated mainly on Metallica tracks. To me, you can still hear the Metallica influences screaming out, along with other influences they cite in their Facebook biography, including Testament, Sepultura and Slayer.

The show at the Corporation was mid-way through their recently ended UK/Ireland Tour 2012, they certainly tried to include a show for just about everyone: with gigs as far afield as Glasgow, to Dublin, London to Newcastle, to the finale of the tour on their own stomping ground at the Picturedrome in Holmfirth.

Evile, as always, played a cracking mix from Enter The Grave, Infected Nations and Five Serpents Teeth, it was ‘Heavy Metal Utopia’ indeed, with aggression, testosterone aplenty and guitar riffs pounded out by frenzied fingers. The enthusiastic crowd were loving it – from flailing hair to a brutal looking mosh pit near the stage….this was thrash at it’s very best!

With thirteen thunderous tracks of extreme metal these four guys from Huddersfield both look and sound every inch the top class thrash metal band that they are. In my humble opinion Evile easily rank alongside any of the top thrash metal bands out there today. A word of warning perhaps for the likes of Megadeth and Metallica (whose members are all now hitting middle age) that the Brits can do thrash too; and these young guys from the UK are snapping at their heels!

Catch Evile next at:
Headlining Amnesty’s all Day Metal Fest. Leicester – in aid of charities: Amnesty & The Sophie Lancaster Foundation

Setlist:
Hundred Wrathfull Deities
Enter The Grave
Cult
In Dreams of Terror
Centurion
Man Against Machine
Metamorphosis
In Memoriam
Thrasher
Eternal Empire
Five Serpents Teeth
Infected Nations
Schizophrenia

Links
http://www.evile.co.uk/
http://twitter.com/evileuk
http://www.atmoapparel.co.uk/bands/evile/
http://evile.tumblr.com
http://www.myspace.com/evileuk