The Evil Dead are all the way from ( Don’t Cry For Me) Argentina, but thankfully there is no Andrew Lloyd Webber influence in evidence. As you would imagine with a name like The Evil Dead the band dabble in a bit of death, thrash and good old heavy metal.

On first listen it would be easy to write these guys off as just another noisy band with a vocalist who sounds like he could do with sucking a Fisherman’s Friend ( Fnarr, fnarr ) but that would be a mistake. Give this album a couple of spins and musically you discover the band can really play, sounding like a mix of early Sabbath, Maiden and Judas Priest. They have a triple guitar line up which they utilise to good effect with some excellent melodic riffing and fret burning solos.

Album highlights are plentiful with opener ‘Graverobbin’, ‘ Dead By Dawn’ and ‘ Perfect Day ( In Planet Hell )’ being standouts, the latter has an almost country style intro which soon launches into a heavy, punky number which romps along. The only thing that may hold the band back is the red raw vocal style, but for me it was spot on for the sound the band are striving to achieve.

This is an album with a lot going for it, if you give it half a chance and can get past the vocal delivery the actual musical content is classic heavy metal. Can’t see them making it on to the West End stage though!

David Wilson