Back in late 2017, Evil Invaders’ second album, Feed Me Violence, received regular rotation on my iPhone *insert whatever number was out back then because I’ve lost track*. The Belgian brutes’ brand of thrashing speed metal sat comfortably on my Spotify playlists alongside the likes of Whiplash, Razor, early Slayer, and so forth. It also helped keep me sane while being stranded in central Illinois during the college semester from hell, but more on that some other time. In all honesty, I haven’t really kept track of this band since those early college days, and practically forgot about their existence entirely.
That is until the promo kit for their long awaited follow up album, Shattering Reflection, graced my inbox. My initial reaction was, “Holy shit these guys are still around?!” It was a welcome surprise, as if I was being reunited with a long lost friend. Before I checked out Shattering Reflection, I revisited Feed Me Violence and let me tell you something; this record still rips five years later. The only other bands in the thrash and speed realm bringing it this hard in 2017 were Power Trip and Vulture, yet somehow all the glory went to a bunch of cheesy, generic hypebeasts who were never that great to begin with (feel free to guess which bands I’m referring to).
As Shattering Reflection opened with the ferocious “Hissing in Crescendo”, I felt like it was 2017 all over again, minus the bleak outlook on life. The band’s assault of violent riffing, over the top vocals, and Agent Steel-esque musicianship remains lethal as ever. So you could only imagine my surprise when this signature formula appeared on roughly half of the album’s songs at best (i.e. “Sledgehammer Justice”, “Eternal Darkness”, maybe “The Circle”). The other half of Shattering Reflection sees Evil Invaders drastically shifting gears, exploring the worlds of traditional metal, doom metal, and even hard rock. It very well might be the most dramatic and controversial creative shift since Enforcer’s prog/hard rock/AOR opus, Zenith (2019).
The first musical question mark came in the form of “Die for Me”, a melodic and midtempo headbanger reminiscent of Painkiller era Judas priest in terms of arrangement and production. As this traditional metal hymn segued into the retro AOR tinged ballad that is “In Deepest Black”, I sensed the direction this album was heading in. Evil Invaders have reached the “Let’s try something different.” stage of their career. Whether it be the colossally epic doom of “Forgotten Memories” or the unorthodox cult metal of “My World”, the latter of which could be a lost Cirith Ungol song, Evil Invaders sure keeps things interesting throughout. Even the closing “The Circle”, thrashy as it is, bears more resemblance to the first wave of black metal à la Mercyful Fate or Death SS as opposed to thrash proper.
My initial shock aside, Shattering Reflection is a very strong album. I just feel that if this is the path Evil Invaders is going to take, they have some work to do before reaching the caliber of past catalog entries. Or maybe they just needed to get this traditional metal foray out of their system before going back to thrashing. Only time will tell. Let’s hope it’s not another five years time!
7 out of 10
Label: Napalm Records
Genre: Heavy Metal
For fans of: Agent Steel, Judas Priest, Mercyful Fate