UMUR
"United States of Anarchy" is the 3rd full-length studio album by US, California based thrash metal act Evildead. The album was released through Steamhammer in October 2020. It´s the successor to "The Underworld" from 1991. Evildead disbanded in 1995, and had a reunion in 2008 which lasted until 2012 where they disbanded again (this period spawned only one recording from the band in the 2011 "Blasphemy Divine" single). Evildead reunited a second time in 2016 and resigned to their former label for the relase of "United States of Anarchy".
Lead vocalist Phil Flores, guitarist Juan Garcia, and bassist Karlos Medina, remain from the lineup who recorded "The Underworld (1991)", while guitarist Albert Gonzales and drummer Rob Alaniz are new in the band.
Stylistically Evildead play an aggressive, mid-to fast-paced type of thrash metal with crossover leanings. Flores sometimes sound very similar to Billy Milano (S.O.D., M.O.D.), and other times like the most raw moments produced by Russ Anderson (Forbidden). Needless to say his voice is strong and his performance powerful and raw. There are loads of riot gang choir vocals throughout the album too. The lyrics are often political in nature. Opening track "The Descending" talks about the unfairness of the US political system and corruption (the line "It just a game to the billionaire" says a lot), while "Napoleon Complex" is aimed directly at former president Donald Trump (at least that´s how I interpret the lyrics).
"United States of Anarchy" is an album loaded with killer thrash metal riffs and new drummer Rob Alaniz is a great asset to the band´s sound. He has a powerful playing style, driving the music forward in an energetic and aggressive fashion. I didn´t sit still one second of the 38:35 minutes long playing time, maybe except for the awkward clean guitar lounge jazz intro to "No Difference", which was completely unneccesary if you ask me. Yeah we now know you can play other styles than thrash metal...now get on with the thrashing!!!
Evildead are an exceptionally well playing band, and they understand how to compose a 3-4 minutes long effective and concise thrash metal tune, designed to make your head bang and your body move (while that´s not the case with the B-52´s cover "Planet Claire 2020", it´s still a great cover song and a nice variation on the album). They excel in both fast-paced thrashing and mid-paced heavy grooves and as "United States of Anarchy" also features a powerful, raw, and detailed sound production, it´s through and through a high quality release and a 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.