REVIEW ALBUM CRUCIFIED BY MPIRE OF EVIL

Mpire of evil is all about the thrash blackened metal from Venom during their Prime Evil to Waste lands era, formed in 2010, is the reunion band for the evil bass/vocalist Tony "Demolition man" Dolan (ex ATOMKRAFT, ex VENOM)  and  former Venom members, Jeff Mantas Dunn on the dark axes together with Antton on drums. They release three studio albums, the first included two original tracks among covers from different bands like Judas Priest or Motorhead, called "Creatures of the Black" in 2011.
One year after, they released the full length Hell to the holy, receiving positive feedbacks worldwide! JXN Jackson joined the band on the drums after Antton left, and in 2013 they released Crucified.

Crucified is built with Venom covers re recorded to perfection and keeping the raw and heavy sound of Venom, most of the tracks belong to the Waste Lands album (Kissing the beast, Black Legions, Need to kill, Crucified, Wolverine), also the tittle track Temple of Ice, and from Prime Evil (Parasite, Blackened are the priests and Carnivorous) and I have to say that as a compilation is a true bomb of speed thrash blackened metal of non stop headbanging, brought from the underrated most unknown eras of Venom where the influence of the former singer of Atomkraft, Dolan, influenced with thrash speed metal with the apocalyptic and evil feeling combined with the style of Mr Jeff. The vocals evolved in a more growling low pitched style going high at some points, but even this way gives a more rotten evil feeling than before, added with the strong drumbeats of JXN make this an improvement for the originals, being the chance of many people who didn't know this side of Venom and also start following what Mpire of Evil is about!

And after enjoying such a thrash speed metal feast is time to analyse the new Mpire of Evil tracks; Demone is a machine gun pulse on the drums that explodes in strong straight verses, headbanging as hell and breathtaking track where the drummer JXN makes an extraordinary job with some sophisticated details here and there and a forceful attitude in harmony with Mantas on the guitars and Dolan shots on the chorus.

But the best is yet to come, Take it all takes the thrash metal old school style and twistes it with headbanging and amazingly catchy chorus taken from black rock and roll elements, remarkable the  vocals here as Dolan really matches the higher pitched voice he used to do on his travel with Venom, great in-crescendo ending!

Mpire of Evil put the listener in the atmosphere of the Venom influence and then step forward with two atomic bombs that will be really enjoyed by old Venom fans and also for new metal maniacs with hunger of true thrash metal. They where capable of keeping the roots of what they created, a beast that had to be rided, and so they did! Excelent job guys!

8,5 / 10


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Review by Daniel Ortiz from Metalheads Union, and Metalheads Union FB