Forgotten Lore: Evil Army

Somewhere in the middle of that whole thrash revival fad there was Evil Army; an unassuming three-piece hailing from Tennessee who put out a few EPs and one excellent, balls to the wall LP simply titled Evil Army.

Evil Army had me sold with opener "Conqueror Human Life," a fast catchy track built upon a hardcore punk framework that contained one of the best thrash breaks this side of the century (around 1:40). In a nutshell, this is what Evil Army had to offer: tight, well rounded thrash with gnarly 80's punk vocals and old school punk urgency. Nothing fancy, no gimmicks and no fat, Evil Army clocks in at nearly 25 minutes with 13 tracks and leaves you wanting nothing else but to simply hit "repeat."


While "Conquer Human Life" and the riff catalog "Relentless Assault" flexes their thrashier side "Evil Army," "Satan Made Me Do It,"  "Scum of the Earth," as well as closer "Wrong Approach" show the band's punk affinity in spades. Gang choruses, simple power chord progressions and some of the most fevered and fastest vocals I've heard, Evil Army hearken back to a day when the realms of metal and punk knew no better and could be confused as one.

As they've been on hiatus for quite a while, Rob Evil has recently been released from jail, so we can look forward to more thrash on the horizon.