Razor
Evil Invaders

THE REVIEW

Second act of the Canadian Thrash band, led by the host Dave Carlo, released just a few months after the debut "Executioner's Song," with a slightly changed producer and sound, ultimately aiming to climb the temple of Thrash Metal: we're not yet in 1986, the year of abundance, we can make it. So they say.

"Evil Invaders" is produced by someone named Walter Zwol (never heard of him) with the help of a certain Garth Richardson, who will become famous thanks to his excellent work with the debut album of Rage Against The Machine. Musically, the album is a nailbomb, a metal beam on your teeth, raw, minimal, almost irritating if you will, with lyrics thrown in to make impressions, dominated by solitude, by darkness, dissolved in smoky cities: impactful themes that thrill the fans. Drummer M-BRO has greatly deteriorated, practically forever fast like Lombardo, but unlike him, he always executes the same roll and then trots along, thus only three variants across ten songs: stuff to turn him into a crocodile with a toothache. Strangely enough, the album's success isn't much affected, certainly thanks to the good Carlo who in every song invents a precious riff to then literally stick in his whistling solo.

The album starts with the instrumental "Nowhere Fast," in which the guitarist simulates the start of a cold motorcycle, then manages to start it and the sound comes out of the "salami slice" muffler: a mesmerizing roar paired with the drum that sounds like a press, accompanied by the accelerated sound evoking the infernal clamor of Dante's Lustful. The following "Cross Me Fool" is battered by Stace McLaren's aggressive and disdainful voice and the smooth rhythm, only shattered by two electrifying copy-paste solos. The title track talks about alien invaders, motorized visitors, with a speed-of-light tempo, as well as the singing of "Sheepdog," which seems like an unhinged rap up to the music-image pathos of the cover: you listen to the track and see the alien biker speeding, revealing his true identity, a theme that will resurface in John Carpenter's film "They Live" (1988). Bass loop in "Iron Hammer" with lyrics summarizing the Razor concert: "Iron hammer in your face, wall of metal shake the place, total volume full scale attack...", followed by the usual guitar raids, a jeu de massacre similar to Iron Maiden's "The Trooper" cover.

Side B of the album is the museum of Thrash Metal with cobwebs, opening with "Instant Death," the toughest song of the album, with M-BRO daring the use of fast double bass, with an effective crescendo before the final rush, a track this one reprised as a ghost track on "Decibel," performed by the 1997 lineup with Bob Reid on vocals. Titles like "Speed Merchants," to make clear who the Razor are and what they sell to fans, are disarming: it feels like being in the film "The Warriors" as well as the apotheosis "Thrashdance." But let's talk about this track for a moment: from beginning to end, constantly the same pulse, the title alone is a proclamation, but it's not just that, even the guitar's sharpness follows the same vein as the ten that preceded it. Yet the album has its reason to exist, played with strength, thought out in the smallest detail, violently sincere. Comparisons? Not a chance. We cannot compare it to "Seven Churches" by Possessed or "Pleasure To Kill" by Kreator, which are raw, yes, but seminal.

"Evil Invaders" is Jurassic Thrash Metal, an extinct genre but one that existed. Archaic sound, crackling and suicidal will of the group in the market: not amateurs with sentiment but rustic working men of Thrash, like homemade fettuccine, sometimes as heavy as the declaration on the back cover: "We spit on those who choose the pose, we thrash with all the rest".