Brutiful_ViXn
Reign In Metal
Zodiac :  Metal Reputation : 88
Join date : 2012-01-05
Location : Vacationing in Hell
 | |  M-Pire Of Evil – Crucified (2013) Album Review | |
M-Pire Of Evil – Crucified (2013)
Mausoleum Records & Rock ‘N’ Growl Promotion -- Running Time 42:04
Little more than a year after releasing their well received debut album ‘Hell To The Holy’, M-Pire Of Evil are back with sophomore release ‘Crucified’ albeit with a couple of differences. Firstly, drummer Antton Lant has departed (to concentrate on the excellent Def-Con-One) and has been replaced by ‘JXN (Marc Jackson)’ and secondly, this time round, as well as including three new songs ‘Crucified’ also contains eight re-recorded tracks from the Tony ‘Demolition Man’ Dolan fronted era of Venom. Now, was it always the plan to do this or has it been done to get an album out quick and ‘strike while the iron is hot’ so to speak? It does seem like a little bit of a weird decision to do this now but to be fair they have made a pretty damn good album, even if not all of the new versions live up to their original recordings.
Weird decision or not, I am a huge Venom fan and own every album, regardless of lineup, and have seen them live on a number of occasions, so something like this was always going to be an interesting listen. Some regard the ‘Tony Dolan’ era as not really Venom! Although I prefer the Cronos fronted versions Tony is still a fine vocalist, wicked bass player, and of course, many forget how good he also was fronting the band Atomkraft! I think Venom’s ‘Prime Evil’ album is vastly underrated, so to hear some of those tracks again, as well as cuts from ‘Temples Of Ice’ and ‘The Waste Lands’ is great. ‘Blackened Are The Priests’ is definitely one of the tracks where the new version works extremely well. ‘Carnivorous’, ‘Parasite’ and ‘Black Legions’ also fare very well, but ‘Temples Of Ice’, the song, works less well, coming across as a little bland and therefore a weak opening track.
What makes the decision to re-recorded old Venom tracks at this stage even more strange is that the three new songs ‘Crucified’, ‘Demone’ and ‘Taking It All’ absolutely fire on all cylinders and are the best tracks on the album. ‘Taking It All’, especially, is a stunning track; with Dolan’s vocals coming completely alive and a groove so deep you could twist your ankle. What is very clear is that guitarist ‘Mantas’ (Jeffrey Dunn), has once again found his love for harder edged metal and thrash and that can only be a good thing. ‘Crucified’ is a great album, but I am really looking forward to M-Pire Of Evil delivering another full album of originals rather than what could be seen as a stop-gap release!
http://www.mpireofevil.com/
https://www.facebook.com/mpireofevil
http://www.rockngrowl.com
Review written exclusively for Brutiful Entertainment by Rick Tilley: www.facebook.com/richard.tilley.351
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