Blast from the past albums #2: EVILE - Infected Nations (2009, Earache)

In this series of posts I'll discuss an album I picked up as a teenager or my early 20s and haven't listened to in a very long time.

Infected Nations is Evile's second album, and one I remember being pretty psyched for back in 2009. I was a big fan of their first record, 2007's Enter the Grave. I still am. In fact, I still have my Enter the Grave t-shirt from when I saw them live in 2010 (even though it was the Infected Nations tour!)! That debut was, and still is a killer slab of modern thrash metal. I talked about Violator's Chemical Assault in my first 'Blast from past albums' post, and they totally nailed the '80s thrash sound and aesthetic on that album. Evile's take on thrash was still old-school enough musically and even lyrically to appeal to the older metal crowd, but the production values, album artwork etc. provided a modern twist in a way that was unique to the boys from Huddersfield, UK. They were bringing thrash metal to the masses but with their own trademark. And it was great. But this post is supposed to be about Infected Nations, not the debut!

So anyway, I felt they had a lot to live up to with Infected Nations. And when I finally got my hands on the album (it dropped in September 2009... in my head it was early '09, but apparently not!) I was... not disappointed with it as such, but it wasn't quite what I was expecting from them either. It's still Evile... but I guess when a band has only made 1 album prior, if they deviate from the sound of their debut with their follow-up, the changes are gonna be even more noticeable somehow. Infected Nations is still as heavy as it's predecessor (if not heavier in some ways), but the lyrics and overall approach to songwriting seems to have matured a little compared to Enter the Grave. The musicianship was still solid as a rock before, but the playing and instrumentation has gotten a little more technical, more ambitious and maybe even a little more progressive too in some ways.

Aye, most of the songs are generally longer and more complicated this time around. 'Genocide' and 'Metamorphosis' are 7 minutes plus in length. Hell, 'Hundred Wrathful Deities' is over 11 minutes long! So no, tracks from the debut like 'Thrasher' (which is about moshin'!) or 'First Blood' (which is about Rambo!) wouldn't have worked on the slightly more sophisticated Infected Nations! But I wouldn't call this album pretentious either; from what I can tell the lads were either well into their 20s by the time they recorded it, with bassist Mike Alexander (RIP) in his 30s at this point. Who can blame them for wanting to move away from lyrical thrash stereotypes? Not that there's anything wrong with thrash stereotypes - like I said, Enter the Grave is a killer album (and so is Violator's Chemical Assault, which is more stereotypical of the genre!) - but, there's only so much you can do with that sound and image. Somehow Infected Nations feels a little more serious in comparison.

And anyway, although many of these tracks are just as much mid-tempo as they are fast, the riffing is most definitely there. In fact, a lot of the time the approach to riffing reminds me a lot of Metallica's prog-thrash hybrid ...And Justice for All. Especially the songs 'Nosophoros' and 'Devoid of Thought' for some reason. Yep, the riffs are as tight as a drum, and they're almost endless in scope throughout every track. Ol Drake's soloing has only gotten better and the production, although a tad dryer this time around, is still crunchy and organic. The bass is kind of hard to make out even if it is still there, but that's my only real gripe with regards to the production. Matt Drake's vocals adapted too somewhat; he isn't as shouty this time around, and not as pronounced either. He kind of reminds me of how Slayer's Tom Araya subdued his vocals a little on South of Heaven after the barnburner that was Reign in Blood. I'm not sure I enjoy Matt's vocals as much this time around, but they're still suiting of the music for sure. 

Why is it then, that Evile's Infected Nations has even made this category of blog post if I actually like it a lot? Why has it sat on my shelves gathering dust for so many years? Well for starters, I still enjoy Enter the Grave more overall, mostly for sentimental reasons. I played the shit out of it in school and college. Of course it was gonna have an impact on me! I was fully embracing all the thrash stereotype tropes at the time and here was a new band from my neck of the woods (well, England anyway, not necessarily Huddersfield!) playing the music I was massively invested in! Because Infected Nations does things a little differently to the debut album I was obsessed with, it didn't hit me in the same way.

But the main reason is probably because the songs just aren't as memorable as they were on the first album - even though the music is just as intense (in a different way), there's a lot more to digest here, and a lot more going on in general. It's not as in-your-face or direct as it's predecessor. I mean, fuck, it ends on an 11 minute instrumental for crying out loud ('Hundred Wrathful Deities')! But guess what? That doesn't make the album any weaker per se. ...And Justice for All was a lot more demanding to listen to than Kill 'Em All, but I still prefer AJFA! Okay, so maybe this isn't the case with Evile, but I have a feeling that if I'd bought Enter the Grave and Infected Nations and heard both of them around the same time, then this follow-up album could just have easily have been my favourite of the 2. Because the songwriting is far more impressive here on a technical level, and I wouldn't argue with anyone if they said they liked this one better. It really is great stuff - it was just overshadowed by the debut and I think it always will be for me sadly. 

Strangely enough, I haven't bought any of Evile's albums after this one, yet I've been meaning to for many years. Oh, and on a side note, Infected Nations' album cover is cool. Kreator's 2012 album Phantom Antichrist looks alarmingly similar to me!
Adam's rating: 8/10