Review by Ritchie Birnie for MPM
It is time for album number three from Eva Under Fire and with Villainous we have a band slipping into a groove cut out by Nu Metal but this album is huge, the production is incredible and the stories within enthralling.
The album opens with “Awakening” and right from the off Amanda Lyberg grabs you and refuses to let go. the power coming from the band is met and doubled down by this incredible singer.
There has to be comparisons with In This Moment of which we will find out more about on the title track but both singers are filled with power and emotional evoking lyrics. This is one hell of a way to open an album.
With a song with a title like “My Own Name” you have to wonder if there was a loss of identity along the way but the faults have been accepted, the pain owned and an awakening revealed. The brutal canvas laid down by Ed Gawlick on bass, Rob Lyberg and Chris Slapnik on guitar and Dave Miller on drums is outstanding. The reflection of pain and defiance is spat at you with a furious pace.
Can see see a theme here as “Survive my Scars” comes out of the speakers? I suppose Amanda has no lack of material what with being a therapist. This is a woman who has obviously dissected her life like a heart surgeon. The intricacies of the songs are most definitely a reflection of a life and it really does make for some incredible songs.
The title track comes out with a blistering pace, a crunchy, catchy monster of a song that Maria Brink shows up on and levitates an already monstrous track to a whole new level. This industrial banger is defiance personified.
“The Words You Say” sits more like a Skillet number. I as well as most of us can associate with the lyrical content within. The hurting, the lying, the self loathing and wondering who the person is who looks back at you in a mirror and how the vision you remember has been so evaporated and twisted. I absolutely loved this song.
This album is just flowing like the undulations of a shark and just as dangerous. “Don’t Say I’m OK” is another statement swimming in pain and anger. This is a straightforward Rock track that breaks down as if clawing its way out of hell.
As “Hello Hollow” starts you could be mistaken that this is an operatic metal momment as the vocals soar and the guitars climb as if they are breaking out of a grave. This is clean, this is fading hope and a desperate grasp for reality.
The industrial edge is back on “Dark Soul” and with that title I could have guessed how the vocals would sound and I was bang on as Eva takes the demons head on. She captures the desperation and longing so easily you know these subjects are lived in, dwelled on and eventually used for comfort.
Is there such a thing as Punk Industrial? I suppose with every genre already out there, there probably is but if not “Gasoline” is it. A song that is firing on the edge of fatal danger but just managing to hold onto this side of life.
From hanging onto life we see a failure in that game with “Murder Scene”. A song that feels close to the edge once again but it flaunts like a serial killer taunting a police force. I dare you not to love this…if you know what is good for you.
I cant say I have ever had the need for a “Safe Word” and I now wonder if I am just plain boring? Like the actions that would require such a thing the song is dangerous, it pleases, it elevates, it takes your breath away but will you go just too far?
With this womans take on life so far I am seriously worried where the song “Teeth” is going to take us. I am not sure I want to dive in that deep but the track is blistering.
You could only finish this album with a song like “A Violent End”. Drummer Dave Miller is trying to finish you off all by himself with that opening and on an album full of incredible moments this song is outstanding. The guitar work is sublime and this takes the band to all new heights and do stick around for the horror ending.
Eva Under Fire have outdone themselves with Villainous. This is a band who know exactly who they are and are exploiting every ounce of talent they have. This is incredible music wrapped in therapeutic brilliance. The album will sit with you for a very long time and you will be evaluating your own psyche like Freud asking about your mother.
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NEW ALBUM VILLAINOUS OUT JULY 10 VIA BETTER NOISE MUSIC — PRE-ORDER HERE
