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Altered By Evil E.P. |
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| Rockin' Engine are a heavy metal band from Canada formed in 2015, releasing their debut album 'Midnight Road Rage' in 2019, followed by two E.P.'s - 'The Wretched And The Damned' (2020) and 'Altered By Evil' (2023). | ||||||
| Both E.P.'s have seen the band grow and evolve their sound, moving in a more brutally aggressive thrash metal direction! The bands new release 'Altered By Evil', takes the listener into an imaginary world of monsters and evil spirits - an atmosphere of dark, creepy horror rising high in the air. I almost didn't recognise the band, their sound so much different from what I remember! But change is a good thing, right? Only if it improves on what was - and the band sure as hell have! The new E.P. launches with a scary speech by a vulgar clown welcoming listeners to the impending carnival: | ||||||
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"ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, step right up for the spectacle you've all been waiting for, as tonight we celebrate the wretched and the damned, get ready to experience the most frightening night of all, hide your kids whether big or small, brace yourselves and open your eyes people, welcome to the carnival of evil" |
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| And then BOOM! 'Carnival Of Evil' explodes with all the ferocity of a thousand incendiary devices, the band hammering hard with an emphatic wall of sound! The aggressive stance when the vocals kick in is vicious, Rockin' Engine's lead singer Steve O Leff spitting venom with menacing intent. The in your face attitude is gonna surprise many of the bands fans - but in a very good way! So just how do you follow such a barnstorming start? By increasing the tension, menace, and intensity, the band doing just that with the mid tempo thunder of 'Day Of Wrath'. With explosions still going off left right and fucking centre, the band remain in mean mood, planting one foot firmly on the monitor and introducing an old school metal gallop. | ||||||
| With no sign of the bands new found heaviness disappearing any time soon, the E.P. marches on with 'Libre Ex-Mortis', echoing the mid paced style of thrash legends Megadeth. However, Rockin' Engine do change gear a few times to hurtle forth like a deadly rocket zeroing in on its target! I can't stress enough how much of a turn the band have made with regards to their musical direction, but I ain't complaining, I think it's terrific - 'cause the heavier the better as far as I'm concerned. And the level of head bang ability is flying off the fucking charts - none more so than for 'Monsters Under Your Bed', the best song on offer by the proverbial country mile. The continuation of the E.P.'s incredible heavy nature blended with an insane melodious intent makes for one helluva great song! 'Monsters Under Your Bed' is gonna become a crowd favourite for sure - a definite highlight of the E.P. But then again, all six songs on the E.P. are highlights! | ||||||
| An eerie and fairly frightening spoken word passage leads into 'Psycho Path', a terrifying mid tempo storm of foot stomping heavy metal, with an almighty NWOBHM guitar sound to boot - the overall meld resulting in a glorious groove metal feel! The bands current fanbase is gonna widen dramatically with the release of this E.P. for fans of traditional metal, thrash, groove and a few industrial metallers are all gonna come flocking into Rockin' Engine's soundscape. Bringing the album to a close, 'Room 185' features a guest vocal performance by Stephane Jomphe, from Canadian death metal band Insurrection. Rockin' Engine press the pedal firmly to the metal, flying along the freeway at the fastest speed the E.P. has shown - the final hurrah a savage barrage of fiery metal. | ||||||
| Overall, a thunderous stampede of thrash led traditional heavy metal, featuring a surprising but not unpleasant level of menace and aggression. | ||||||
| Review by Iron Mathew Collins | ||||||
| Reviewed for Metal Gods TV | ||||||
| Review is also featured at Metal-Roos | ||||||
| Other Reviews | ||||||
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| Midnight Road Rage | ||||||
| "a bombastic and heavy hitting forty minutes of metal and rock, full of swagger and sass" Read Review | ||||||
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